The Beauty of White

It snowed in Richmond today, the second snow of the season after a weird two week summer spell. It was beautiful. I watched from my sixth floor office window, little flurries falling down from the sky. They danced in the wind, graceful like ballerina's fingertips. As they turned the ground white, these little flakes seem to wipe away the dreadfulness of winter. Nothing was sad and grey anymore. Everything was white, simple and lovely.

I was happy.

Review: Roma's

Ate at a new Italian Restaurant last night called Roma's. It's located on Staples Mills. I believe it's fairly new since I've never seen it before. Of course it's been a while since I drive through Staples Mills. I've been using Betlehem and I-64 lately.

Roma's is nothing spectacular from the outside, plain beige-colored wall with a huge "ROMA's" on the front. However, it's a little bit more intimate on the inside. Sky-and-cloud painted ceiling decorated the whole space, kind of remind you of Caesar's Palace in Vegas. The windows "look out" to scenic points of Northern Italy. I did not exactly feel the warmth of a big Italian family, but it definitely did not have a "franchised" feel like Olive Garden.

The girl that waited our table was friendly and attentive. She brought us our drinks and took our order. Luke got Mussel Marinara, and I ordered Pasta Puttanesca. Both came with bread and butter, and good-sized salads, and both are around $15.

Our meals came on a huge round place, and the pasta pretty much covered the whole plate. Luke's was covered with mussels and lots and lots of fresh tomatoes. Plenty of fresh tomatoes dressed my dish too, along with two different kinds of olives, capers, and banana peppers. Oh yes, mine certainly has a little kick to it.

We enjoyed our meals thoroughly. Mine was delicious, and certainly different than any other pasta I have tasted before. I did soon realize that there was no way I could finish the whole thing. I had at least 3 meals worth of pasta in front of me! The waitress quickly came and offered to put my leftover in a box. She disappeared and came back with a box in her hand.

I would certainly come back for another dinner or to explore the lunch menu. Roma's offers a lot of different entrees including sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, and pastas for both dinner and lunch. All the entrees are reasonably priced. And considering you're going to be well fed for the next three meals, why not?

The dreadful friday

Friday is not always fun. For wannabe actuaries especially. This Friday is one of them, one of the two Fridays in a year where you find out if you actually belong in the highly acclaimed N.E.R.D.S or if you're just one of those lowly creatures waiting to be kicked out of the actuarial "gene pool"

I, once again, have been on the latter group. Hengchang, on the other hand, is clicking impatiently every two seconds on the "Passing Candidate Number" on the SOA link. He is one of the few chosen ones who has never failed in any of the exams. How did he do it, you wonder? Well, so do I. And the rest of the group.

As a matter of fact, the last click he made at the website confirms that he really does belong. A toast, a drinking night, and a singing Doug Fearrington awaits at the end of the day, just to celebrate.

As for me, and the rest of the tadpoles, we just shake our little heads and hope for the best on the next exam.

Short Hot Love Story

I SHALL SEEK AND FIND YOU....
I SHALL TAKE YOU TO BED AND CONTROL YOU....
I WILL MAKE YOU ACHE, SHAKE AND SWEAT UNTIL YOU GRUNT AND GROAN....
I WILL MAKE YOU BEG FOR MERCY....
I WILL EXHAUST YOU TO THE POINT THAT YOU WILL BE RELIEVED WHEN I LEAVE YOU....
AND YOU WILL BE WEAK FOR DAYS.


ALL MY LOVE,
THE FLU

Prilla is sick today...

It all began in a magical dumpling world, where everything was white and fluffy, soft and delicious, and warm to the taste. It was a good jolly time with old and new friends: making dumplings, tasting dumplings, eating dumplings, saving the leftover dumplings. It was all good and happy.

Until the next day. I woke up with a burning sensation on my throat.

"Oh!" I thought, "This is not good...NOT GOOD at all!"

And I was right.

Today was my second day of sorethroat, and it's now moving up to my nose. In a few hours, I will have nose congestions, and when I'm weak and out of breath, it's going to move down and conquer my lungs.

Oh well, I can't complain. I'm sick once a year, pretty much about the same time. If there is anyone to blame (sure there is!), I would probably blame Hui's germy house. Hee-hee, kidding!

The weatherman disappoints me (again!)

So what's up with the weather? How is it possible for California to have inches and inches and inches of snow while we here in the good ol' east are barely surviving with, uhm, NONE???

If only I was more careful and not so much moving on impulse, I probably wouldn't be blaming it on the weatherman (Duh! Didn't mean to sound like a chicksong!)

Here is the problem.

I am in love with skiing.

I love the coldness of the snow, the fierce wind blowing on my face when I'm moving downhill.

I love the crunching and the swishing, and challenge of going down the black diamonds.

So! Since I love skiing so much, I figured, why don't I just buy a season pass!

OH! The greatest idea of the season!!

So here I am.

Stuck.

On a slope

With no snow (and I repeat, NO SNOW)

So should I cross my fingers? Do I dare to hope for mounds and mounds and mounds of snow next week? Should I pray on my knees? Praying for that soft, powdery, white substance? Is it really meant to be???

What's with the reds and the blues and the yellows?

There are certain feelings or smells that you can only express with colors. I, for one, am usually happier in yellows and light greens. Red burns me and blue sometime is just not happy enough. However, too much yellow sometimes is too much. A simple example would be when a banana is starting to smell yellow. It's an indicator that it's time is ticking away and doom is inevitable. Bruise marks will pop up and fruitflies will attack with full force. You don't really want to get that far. Adopt the banana to your system when the tip is still light green and you'll have a perfect and happy color.

The Magical World of Dumplings

Had a small get together at Hui's place last night, our second after hot pot night in December. It was fun! Iron Chef Tom chopped the nappa cabbage - lightning speed style while the six of us gathered around a big pan of chives and ground pork mix, making little tiny dumplings as perfect and as tightly as possible. When we have enough dumplings to feed the entire children in China, we stopped our little dumpling factory and dumped what we had "produced" in a big pot of boiling water.

"Let it boil," Iron Chef Tom said, "Add a cup of cold water and let it boil again."

He is so full of wisdom!

"Do it two times," he continued, "And your dumplings are ready."

Mix up some vinegar, sesame oil, and a touch of "Lao Gan Ma", and it was just magical! MAGICAL!

Well, honestly... dumplings are not really that magical. They taste good! But still, not magical. What's more magical is having friends who enjoyed making dumplings with you, or playing "Killer" over and over and over again until Hui finally became the killer and was finally happy. Laughing out loud was magical. And of course, laughing out loud until you have a sore throat the next day was sort of magical too!

We're probably going to have something going for Chinese New Year, and hopefully, it's going to be "magical" as well. :-)