Looks like I’ll be writing mobile posts until I get a replacement laptop.

There’s always one thing that nags me, and that’s public microwave etiquitte When it comes to using a microwave at a common area, certain manners have to be followed.

First of all, if you make a mess no matter how large or small inside the microwave, clean it up.

Second, before you open the microwave door to put in your food, make sure it is not in use.

And finally, never walk away from the microwave while your food is heating. I’ve seen people set the timer for three minutes and return four minutes later (sometimes longer). And you wonder why people give you dirty looks, you’re holding up the line!

My point: Don’t be an ass.

I haven’t been posting because my laptop started to act funny last week. Today it seemed to take its last breathe. While I did back up most of my files to an external hard drive…it looks like I won’t be able to recover a number of important files. I’ll see if I can repair it, but it’s not booting up beyond the BIOS and it looks like one of the colors on the LCD is burned out. Maybe it’s time for a Mac, I was never a fan of Vista anyway.

I’ll do my best to post ASAP if I fix my laptop or when I get a new one.

~ Kin

I’m at the Japanese market, Mitsuwa, looking to buy a few grocery items. But instead, I find myself in the middle of the food court enjoying the beef curry udon soup that’s pictured below. Damn these temptations.

Amidst of talking on the cell phone, fumbling over the radio controls, and shaving (or putting on make-up) while you drive, there’s one more distraction to send yourself and others into impending doom. Maplin, a British company that can be seen as the equivalent to Radio Shack in the States, is selling a microwave for the car.

The specifications on the website recommends turning on the car’s engine to prevent major battery drainage. Whether you want to use this while driving or not, is totally up to you. This microwave can pump out 660 watts of cooking power when it is directly hooked up to a battery, and 175 watts through the cigarette lighter.

Maplin via dvice

All yours for $180.00 buckaroos.

~ Kin

Once in a while, we encounter a jar that seems impossible to twist open. And guys, even with all the strength training, sometimes the end result is futility and humiliation…especially when you fail to open it in front of a girl. Weak.  But it’s alright, some times using your noggin is more effective then brute strength alone. YumSugar has a neat post on using a spoon to open a stubborn jar.

1. Hold the spoon in one hand and the jar firmly in the other.
2. Nestle the spoon in the crack between the lid and the glass. Push up and back. You want to break the seal.
3. Press up with the spoon to loosen the lid. If the seal does not break, rotate the jar and repeat, pressing up and back with the spoon until you hear a pop.
4. Let go of the spoon and twist the lid off. It will come of smoothly and easily.

I usually battle it out with a butter knife, but the spoon looks to be a safer alternative.

YumSugar via Lifehacker

~ Kin

I love to eat Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, but for the past 6 months, I switched over to eating Kashi cereal because I was getting bored of it. Well, this morning, I was perusing the cereal aisle and I noticed a new variety of Honey Bunches of Oats. Was this product going to bring me back to my HBoO roots?

Not exactly.  So what’s it like?  About half of the flakes are covered in chocolate, and the oat clusters seem to held together with chocolate as well. Surprisingly, the chocolate flavor isn’t over powering, in fact, it’s quite light. It was nice to see that this cereal had the Cocoa Krispies affect, as in it turns your milk into chocolate milk. The flavors of honey and chocolate just didnt seem to complement each other quite well. It’s not a winner in my book, I still prefer the original.

I strive hard to include at least three servings of vegetables in my daily diet.  And often, I fail to meet that goal. So last week, I started to do what most Chinese parents do, make healthy soup.  I never really liked drinking soup when I was young.  Most of the time when I go to visit my parents back in South Jersey, they would tell me there’s soup waiting for me.  They would tell me how the soup would get rid of the hot air and cleanse the toxins out of my body. (I never believed them though).

On my first vegetable soup attempt, I threw onions, celery, spinach,  corn, mushrooms, peas, tomatoes, and carrots, along with some salt and pepper into a pot of water and let it simmer for 2 hours.  I then added some miso paste for additional flavor.  I’m starting to see the practicality of healthy soup. All of a sudden, adding more vegetables to my diet just got easier.

~ Kin

This is my first mobile post, so let’s see how it goes.

My friend just called me and the wait for Bon Chon chicken is an hour and a half. Time to meet up with my friends and hit the bars

Ok, it’s 8:40pm and I am at Bon Chon. There’s still a wait. The ambience of this place isn’t what I had expected. It has a lounge and club feel. Beyonce’s song is blasting in all directions and I am surrounded by the chatter. This chicken better be good!

Finally, the chicken has arrived. And it’s mighty damn good.

The pictures arent’ exactly great…stupid iPhone.

After a long day at the NY Renaissance Festival on Saturday, me and my friends were hungry, and we did not feel like dining out.  So we decided to buy groceries and dined-in instead.

I find entertaining guests to be quite fun, but when I do it, I like to plan the events in advance.  This time, it was rather spontaneous, but it wasn’t difficult to think of what to cook, as me and my friends already had something in mind.  So what’s my point?  Always keep some recipes in your head.   I think it’s important to know how to cook a few simple dishes well, after all, you’ll never know when you might be entertaining guests.

~ Kin

Image:  Kin

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Cooked chicken breast meat (diced)
• Celery - 1 Stalk
• Blue cheese
• Mozzerella cheese
• Butter
• Hot sauce
• Naan flat bread

I don’t have the time or the patience to make pizza crust from scratch, so I decided to use naan (a flat bread eaten in India and the Central Asia region) instead, and it came out rather well.

The amount of sauce and cheese to use is all of personal preference, so if you’re either a sauce or cheese lover, it’s all up to you.  For this recipe, I made 2 personal sized pizzas.

Brush the naan on both sides with olive oil and place it on a baking sheet.  Finely slice the celery.  Melt about 1 Tsp of butter into 2 or 3 Tsp of hot sauce and mix well in a pan over low heat.  Brush the hot sauce on the naan, leaving some space on the outer border.  Next, add the bleu cheese.  Add the mozzerella cheese, then put on the chicken and celery.

Bake for about 6 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees.

That’s about it.

~ Kin