nekare: (Pushing Daisies)
2008-01-09 09:18 pm
Entry tags:

Estas sooooon las mañaniiiitas que cantaaaba el rey Daviiid!

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The happiest of birthdays for [livejournal.com profile] mellafe!!!
Hope you had a wonderful, James-filled day, hon. *blows kisses*

(also: I really wanted to write something for you, but I didn't have the time, so! feel free to ask for a drabble, k?

Also, ways, I'm finally back in my baking groove! I made cupcakes today - chocolate cupcakes with chocolate and peach ganache, to be exact. It was such a good recipe, but it didn't really pan out. I mean, they taste great - the cupcake tastes a lot like a brownie and the ganache is sublime and so very fruity, but they look HORRIBLE. Like, really, really horrible. ;_____; But OH WELL. It was just great to finally get back to cooking; it'd been about two months since I last baked anything.
nekare: (colorful Doctor)
2007-09-23 02:47 pm

Mmm, french cinema...

I've been trying really really hard to write Martha/Ten and it's just. not. working. It's making me horribly frustrated, argh.

I made carrot cupcakes yesterday. They're so incredibly good and some of the best cupcakes I've done, IMO. THE ICING. IT IS WONDERFUL. No pictures because I'm lazy so blah. And it was really fun, too, except for the carrot grating, which was hell.

So I didn't get to see Client on concert (;__;) but I did went to see Ne le dis à personne (Don't tell anyone), which was frankly amazing. I hadn't seen such a good murder mystery movie in some good years, and this one was so good - good, solid characters, wonderful music, some funny thrown in and a riveting plot that was tricky and gave nothing whatsoever away. I love that in this genre. I went in under the idea Guillaume Canet starred in it, and okay, he does (for all of five seconds) but he actually directed it, and boy I didn't know he was almost as good a director as he is an actor. Much love.
nekare: (The Libertines)
2007-09-03 09:50 pm

"Said she wasn't going but she went still, Likes her gentlemen to not be gentle"

Okay, which one of you was the complete sweetheart that gave me a virtual cupcake? *grin* THANK YOU, YOU ANONYMOUS AWESOME PERSON THANKS SO MUCH. ♥ ♥ It seriously made my day. :))

In other news, as as y'all can probably guess already, I'm desperately, madly in love with Goong. Oh man, it's so so good. Chae-kyung just couldn't get cuter if she tried, Yool is hot as hell, Hyo-Rin won me over during the Thailand episode (in which, you know, she's fleshed out as a human being) and even Shin has his moments. So much love.

I just finished my Graphic Expression IV homework: drawing 15 hands in different positions. I've always sucked at drawing hands, so this was great, I can see an improvement already. It's all human figure and life drawing this semester, so I can tell that I'll like it already. :)

I eat four times a week at school, and I'm fixing lunches for myself to save some money, so I'll probably be cooking rather a lot this semester during the nights. Boo. I want to bake, not to cook, damnit! Anyway, I made 'pacholas' (something like hamburger patties) and cauliflower roasted in butter. And I have two of my own-made chocolate chip cookies for dessert, yummy yummy.
nekare: (regina spektor -  fidelity)
2007-09-01 08:05 pm
Entry tags:

Ah, los monitos y mi obsesión con ellos

I went into an Artic Monkeys download frenzy yesterday, and now I have most of their b-sides. I can't get over how much they've improved over time, it's so very noticeable. I mean, I started to like them along with everyone and their mothers when they first started (remember? When they didn't even have an album out and they were just a myspace craze phenomenon), but it didn't last long and in the end, their songs were too alike and their titles better than their music. This new album though, and some of their b-sides, show such an amazing growth as musicians. PLZ PLZ PLZ LET THEM COME FOR A CONCERT HERE. PLZ.

In other news, I'm watching Goong and I'm finding it absolutely charming. I'm on ep. 6 right now, and I'm still all hyped out about it, no matter how silly it can be at times - it just makes me laugh a lot, so. Plus, the dude that plays Yool or Yul or however it's spelled is hot hot hot. And Chae-kyung is so so cute *g* I so suck at remembering Korean names. I used to be the same with Japanese ones until I started studying it, I think, but still. Then again it was a pain to study Prehispanic names while studying Literature in high school because there's no easy way of remembering names like Huitzilopotchli, in all honesty. *shrug*

I made chocolate chip cookies today! I'd missed baking. :3 I still haven't achieved The Perfect Cookie, but they were still better than my last batch.
nekare: (colorful Doctor)
2007-08-24 05:36 pm
Entry tags:

Where can I sign up for Hermits United?

My brother's been counting the hours I have left before going back to school for three days already. It is mortifying. I'm going out with some friends tonight, and truth to be told, I'm not all that excited about it, but they've been telling me I'm becoming a hermit (from hermits united, maybe? *grin*) for a long time, so.

I probably wouldn't mind going back to school that much if it weren't for my crazy-assed schedule: I get out of there two days at five and two days at seven and I even class on Saturday. BOO.

Anyway, I'm all caught up with Ex Machina by now and my God, but it was extraordinary. Honestly, it's very raw, and very violent, but it's so well told, and it has amazing, flawed characters (I'm especially fond of Mayor Hundred and Bradbury), and I love the healthy mix of political intrigue with insane psycopath villians in the true fashion of a superhero comic. Wonderful, wonderful comic; I do wish more people would first think of these kind of comics instead of the crap that's out there right now - there's so much more to this medium that scantily clad ladies with gigantic breasts (and don't even get me started in how the majority of comics nowadays are written for sex crazed male teenagers) and capes.

ExpandIn other stuff, here's a picture of the choux pastries I baked yesterday. )

Haha, I didn't have time to take the picture this morning so by the time I was ready for it my mom had already given out the prettiest ones to my grandma, so I was left with the squashed ones, haha.
nekare: (Default)
2007-08-23 07:49 pm
Entry tags:

Ah, comics, what would I do without you?

Oh man, I'm so tired. In addition to baking the apple pie my grandma asked me to make for a party she's hosting tomorrow, I made choux pastries, profiteroles to be exact. I'm so so tempted to have a piece of the pie, yum yum yum. The profiteroles look all kinds of pretty, but I'm not sure I like them that much. They have way too much eggs in them, and I hate eggs. *shrug* They're good, but I'm not quite sure why I made them when I've never been a great fan of them. *shrug* I'll take pictures tomorrow, when there's better lighting.

Anyway, speaking comics: I'm honestly in awe at how Brian K. Vaughan manages to juggle three comics at the same time (no, wait, four now that he's taken over Buffy's Eight Season) and still manage to keep an incredible quality with all of them. I thought Runaways was good when I first read it, but it's nothing compared to his other work. I've gushed about Y: The Last Man enough in here already, so let's talk about something else:

I finally got my greedy hands on Ex Machina, and boy, am I loving it. I'm only in issue 12 right now, but I already want to snuggle it close to me and call it my precious because it's so. damn. good. You guys know I'm not one for politics, but they're so well portrayed in here that it truly becomes what makes this comic tick. So, Mitchell Hundred is New York's city's mayor, and he can also speak to machines and he used to be a masked vigilante. Really, why can't all superhero comics be this good or this smart? It feels incredibly real, along with being quite creepy at times. And the art is amazing; Tony Harris is really something. Read it, folks, I recomend it fully.

Yayz, I did post Oleaje's translation instead of procrastinate wildly! I'm definitely improving, haha.
nekare: (Life on Mars)
2007-08-22 12:43 pm

Yayz, apple pie!

Well, the wireless... thingy is still BROKEN OR SOMETHING and my dad took it to work to see if he can force make someone take a look at it and I MISS BEING IN MY ROOM. I feel like I can't do anything in here because my mom is almost literally breathing down my neck (and, okay, this is her room, so she's entitled to it but STILL) so no precious NWS stuff for me (HEAR ME WEEP). Boo.

Anyway, I checked out the main actors for the pathetic Life on Mars remake and just-- no. NO NO NO. *wishes it would all go away* I know I'll probably end up watching it to mock it but right now? I'm in denial.

ExpandAnyway, here's a picture of yesterday's apple pie. )

MMMM, SO TASTY. My dad was a bit whiney about why it turned okay for me when it usually doesn't for him, lol.

Oh, and since I'll whine until I get it: Does anyone have 'Delivery' by Babyshambles? Pretty please?
nekare: (The Libertines)
2007-08-21 09:17 pm
Entry tags:

I ♥ Cinema

Mmm, I baked apple pie today and I just had a slice and it's so so good, yummy. :) *rubs belly* I just wish I had vanilla ice cream to go with it, mmm... I've made apple pie dozens of times since I was a child, but never by myself, always as my dad's assistant (I got the cooking gene from him, who in turn got it from his mother), and always following my dad's recipe, which is to say, none at all. Turns out he always skipped that part when you dip the apples in sugar and spice and all things nice cinnamon and stuff so that's why it'd always come out so dry and unflavor-y.

Anyway, I've started translating Oleaje, who got the most votes, and man, but it's been kinda hard - it's so painfully Mexican in its execution. Anyway, by popular demand, I'll probably be translating Hedonismo too once I'm done with this one.

I saw The Dreamers yesterday nigh, and oh wow. Oh man, I'm in love. One of those movies, you know? The premise: Matthew is an exchange student in Paris, and he meets and falls in love with a pair of fraternal twins, Isabelle and Theo, and the three of them seclude themselves from the world, lost in a fantasy world made up almost entirely of reminiscences of old movies while the student rebellion of 1968 comes to a peak outside their window. So yes, there is incest, somewhat explicit sex and a lot of nudity, and yet, I loved it to pieces. Just - the way they interact with each other, the games they play, it was all incredibly moving, even if they're all somewhat disturbing characters. Then the love of cinema of all of them was just incredible, and the lovely Parisian atmoshere coating everything and the subplot of the revolts was really well made. I'm only sad that it didn't have subtitles for the French parts, few as they were, and I feel like I lost something of the sibling's interactions. In all, I just loved it, so, so much. It's weird, though, remember what I said a few days ago about gratuitous sex? It didn't feel like that at all in here, because, just like in Y Tu Mamá También, sex is one of the main ways in which the character interact, and it tells a lot about their characters. Plus, they were really well made, and not at all pornographic or anything of the like.

So much thanks to anyone that recced me this one, [livejournal.com profile] moonix and [livejournal.com profile] mon_starling come to mind, and I know I'm still forgetting someone else...
nekare: (The Libertines)
2007-08-17 08:21 pm

FREEEEEDOM FIGHTERS V.2

Argh, my brother discovered you can order pizza through the internet and since we're both somewhat phonephobics we decided to try it out. It's been about 50 minutes and it's not here yet. ARGH, I'M HUNGRY DAMNIT.

Expandanyway, here's a photo of the cinnamon rolls I made yesterday )

ExpandAnyway. Today was made of lulz because my brother suddenly called from school to say classes were over because the entire school (about 1400 people) WENT ON STRIKE. AND ALMOST ATTACKED THE DEPUTY HEADMASTER. OMG LOL. )

LOL LOL WHY DID THAT NEVER HAPPEN WHEN I WENT THERE, DAMNIT?

Also, joy, but I learned to color in photoshop today using a scanned lineart! Not very well, mind you, and using only flat colors, but it's a start! I'm seriously retarded in all things photoshop-related, honest, which is downright embarassing for a Graphic Design major. *shifty eyes* My pitiful first attempt can be found here, being the colored version of the doodle on the right. Lol, have I ever mentioned I like bright colors? Yeah, thought so.
nekare: (Life on Mars)
2007-08-16 09:56 pm
Entry tags:

*cries*

AAAAAARGH, STUPID, STUPID CINNAMON ROLLS. WHAT IN HELL POSSESSED ME INTO THINKING IT'D BE A GOOD IDEA TO TRY AND MAKE THEM?

First of all, I hadn't made honest-to-God dough in a couple of years, and it took me more than an hour to tame it into submission, and by then my back ached to no end and I was so tired of standing. Then, the stupid yeast pretty much didn't work, so even if I waited about two hours before getting it into the oven THEY DIDN'T RISE. AT ALL.

ARGH. I started making these things at about 5 today. It's ten and I just got them out of the oven AND THEY'RE NOT COMPLETELY COOKED, even if the stayed there for about 20 minutes more than the recipe said they should. ARGH ARGH ARGH WHAT A WASTE. They look kinda pretty, though. STILL. I'm not doing this EVER again. (And I was kinda looking forward to making chocolate-filled croissants next, but if today's fiasco is any indication, maybe I should wait a bit. Dunno.)

In other, happier news, I'm finally hooked with Gabriel García Márquez's El Amor en Tiempos del Cólera (Love in the times of cholera), and really, it's odd, but him and Isabel Allende are the only authors that can pull off the 'years later, he couldn't have said... blah blah' thing - they switch perspective and timing and place sometimes in one parapraph, and yet, it works so. well. Maybe it's a Them thing? Dunno. But I hadn't been this excited about somethinf of GGM since I last re-read his peregrin tales.
nekare: (The Libertines)
2007-08-12 01:47 pm
Entry tags:

Mmm, chocolate...

Ugh, I've felt rotten ever since I went to bed last night, it seems like that cold I've been avoiding all summer long is finally catching up to me. ;__;

ExpandAnyway, have some pictures of the cupcakes I made last night )

The filling's not that visible now that they're cold... And that's a big strawberry, but still, see what I mean when I say they're really really small? The chocolate glaze wasn't as smooth as I wanted because I was out of corn syrup, but oh well, it's still oh so tasty like that.

I originally made this batch to take to the weekly family reunion, but now that I've tasted them with icing... oh man, they're so so good, and I really want them all for myself. *g*

In other news, I'm green with envy because [livejournal.com profile] dixie_pinky got to meet Zoé, omg!

ETA: Btw, I'm here in the Epilogue Meme. :)
nekare: (regina spektor -  fidelity)
2007-08-11 10:30 pm
Entry tags:

Ah, Harry Potter, bringing families together.

Remember the raspberry and chocolate cupcakes I wanted to make? Well, I couldn't find raspberries ANYWHERE. Really, it's so strange, I went looking in like, five big supermarkets, and there was not a raspberry on sight. o_O

So, instead, I made strawberry and chocolate cupcakes. OMG THEY'RE SOOOO GOOD. The strawberry puree in the actual batter makes the cake super spongy and soft, and that and the cinnamon just give it a completely different flavor than regular chocolate cupcakes. They didn't rise much, though, so filling them wasn't as dramatic as I thought it'd be (I'd been especially excited about the strawberry and cream cheese filling). I was halfway done baking when my aunt, uncle and cousin came for a visit, though, so I wasn't able to make the icing, and we all had to eat them like that. I'll finish them up tomorrow, though, before I leave to the family reunion, and I'll probably take pictures then, once they're all pretty and stuff XD

I'm gonna miss my baking spree once I get back to school and don't have time for anything at all, woe. ;___;

Anyway, teh family came here because they just came back from a trip to Europe on Friday, and, of course, they've been going all over the city visiting family to talk about the trip. It was cool, until my cousin asked what we had done while they were gone and saying '...we went to the beach.' in a low voice is kinda embarassing, lol. Man, I want some cool vacation, another cousin has just came back from Japan and a couple of others went shopping in San Antonio. *sigh* In any case, all her rambling brought back a lot of memories, and damn, but I wanna go back to Europe some day. Especially Paris. And Venice. I could so live in either of those cities.

Michelle, my cousin, is halfway through Deathly Hallows (that with being too busy visiting pretty pretty places to read, that is), and aaaaargh, I want her to finish it already so I can talk about it out loud. We did discuss a lot of what she's read though, and haha, she's totally a fangirl in training, she can sometimes be even scarier than I am XDD (She bought all of British versions in Rome, and according to my aunt, she won't even open them that much so they won't get wrinkles, lol. Me, I prefer the US version because Mary Grandpre is one hell of an illustrator.)
nekare: (regina spektor -  fidelity)
2007-08-07 09:12 pm
Entry tags:

PINK. PINK IS GOOD.

It's actually kinda sad how the highlight of my day was going out for a facial. Urgh. I really have to get out of this house, but I know that my friends would probably invite my ex if we go out (that with the nasty thing about us hanging out with the same group of people, you see), and I really don't want to see him right now so I'm kinda ignoring the ENTIRE group. Er. And my high school friends (i.e. the ones that don't know him) are nowhere to be seen. My excuse is that in three weeks time school starts again and my schedule's so tight I'll barely have time to breathe, so. I kinda do miss school a bit. I don't miss waking up early in the morning, though.

ExpandI made (yet more) cupcakes today! )

In other news, I finally picked up the book I'd abandoned when Deathly Hallows came out, El Amor En Tiempos de Cólera (Love in the times of cholera) by Gabriel García Márquez, and after hours of reading about corny, cheesy vampires, it just made it painfully obvious how badly written Twilight is, lol. (I told my mom how I was reading this really BAD but really FUNNY book and she laughed lots and lots when I told her the highlights of the book XD I'm reading the trilogy anyway, because I could seriously use the laughs.)
nekare: (The Libertines)
2007-07-31 09:51 pm
Entry tags:

Happy birthday, Harry Potter!

So the boy's 27 today, isn't he? Aw, so cute. :) I love that kid and his sometimes incredibly stupid plans so much. And happy birthday to JK Rowling too, without whom I'd never have discovered fandom and/or started to write fic. ♥ 

I baked chocolate chip cookies today, it was lots of fun. I left them in the oven longer than necessary, though, and they're real crunchy, while I was looking forward for chewy cookies. *sigh* Oh well, they're still tasty, and my dad, the ever loving crunchy-obsessed, said he likes them better like that anyway. It was a huge batch though, and they're pretty big cookies, so it looks like, an immense pile. o_O I guess I'll take some to flamenco class tomorrow and give them away, if only so I won't have to eat so many XD 

Huh, I saw the trailer for Alvin and the Chipmunks and while it still looks incredibly stupid (my chilhood, it's been raped!), at least they look a bit more like themselves and not like wannabe gansters. The idea of them in actual chipmunk size is horribly weird, though. o_O I used to frikkin love this show. The movie with them and the Chipettes traveling around the world was my absolute favorite when I was about, uh, five or six, don't quite remember. But I've seen it so. many. times. Even now, if I stumble across it in the tv, I see it and LOVE it. XDDD
nekare: (Peter Petrelli)
2007-07-26 09:58 pm
Entry tags:

lessons in cooking and lulz

ExpandMy family's been made of immense LULZ as of lately. )

ANYWAY, I baked cookies today! Viennese pastries, actually, so the chocolate chip ones will have to wait a bit. As always with me, they didn't look all that great, but they're actually pretty tasty. *sigh* I really do have to work on my presentation. I think I overdid the lemon zest a bit, but otherwise they were fine. I was in a foul mood before starting (I haven't been sleeping all that well because I came back with the beach with an ear infection, thanks to a wave that knocked me down and left me with sand in places I didn't know existed. It just hurts to lay on the ear, so I have to sleep on my other side and every time I roll over (which I invariably do), it hurts a bit), so I went WHATEVER THE FUCK about the repostery chocolate I was supposed to dip the cookies in and settled for cheap Hersheys milk chocolate. I'd already done a fruitless trip to the supermarket and it was too hot to get in the car again.

Baking really is soothing for me, though, the minute I started mixing stuff I was all cheery again. *g* I want to make Spaghetti alarrabiata tomorrow, let's see how that goes.

Oh, and I saw OotP again yesterday, and thought it was win. Knowing the end of Deathly Hallows was a bit sad, though, because I kept on tearing up every time someone with a death sentence walked along on the screen. ;___; Then again, I seem to be crying over those casualties all the time as of lately, so it's not that weird. >___>
nekare: (regina spektor -  fidelity)
2007-07-03 10:27 pm

(no subject)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO [livejournal.com profile] onadancefloor!!

You're just awesome, dear, and I rather miss you seeing you around on LJ on a daily-basis instead of every few weeks. Ah, well, I do hope you had a great time. :) *blows kisses*


Haha, I was searching cupcake recipes to try out tomorrow and I found a pretty yummy-sounding one of key lime - oh man, I was mesmerized by that term, I thought it was a rather special and exotic brand of lime, and then I researched and found out it's our ordinary, I-have-half-a-dozen-in-my-fridge brand of lemon. *headdesk* It did brought back memories of my junior high English teacher trying to make us get why those weird Americans (being American himself, he got used to a lot of our jokes, poor fellow) called lemon lime instead of its God-given name. Ah, the good times.

And now, Expandthoughts about Doctor Who's new companion, i.e. big fat spoilers for series 4 )

My comfort show right now is Life on Mars, because I know that it'll always be good, and it'll make me laugh or cry or tear up or want to hug Sam real hard whatever what, so I'm serene. It's ridiculous how happy this show makes me (seriously, it's sooo so good), and that's why I've been watching it so slowly -- I just don't want it to be over. I saw 2x02 yesterday, and while it was good, it still wasn't as mind-blowing awesome as 1x08 and 2x01 were. *happy sigh*
nekare: (regina spektor -  fidelity)
2007-06-29 10:28 pm
Entry tags:

"Miente bien, no me puedes lastimar, se que aún me amas de lejos"

I baked more cupcakes today! Chocolate-flavored this time, with mocha-flavored icing. They look so cute! I didn't fuck anything up this time, so they look oh so tasty and I just tried one and they are delicious! I'm so proud of myself. *sniffle* I bought chocolate chips today, so cookies are probably next in line, and then brownies. REALLY THOUGH, WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? I'm no stranger to PMS, but it'd never made me want to go into a baking frenzy before. o_O

Was tempted to bash my head against a wall today when I saw vanilla extract at 15 pesos (1.5 dlls) when I bought fancy imported shit yesterday at 60 because I thought I wouldn't find it that easily in other places. *HEADDESK*

Other than that... I pretty much didn't do anything at all today. Not surprising, considering that I woke up at noon and didn't got out of bed until 1:30. *shifty eyes*

I can't stop listening to Remote Control by Sussie 4 and León Larregui - it's the next best thing to a new Zoé song, 'cause I'd bet anything that León wrote it, and I'm honestly in love with the lyrics and melody. *happy sigh* *listens to it in repeat*
nekare: (colorful Doctor)
2007-06-27 09:56 pm
Entry tags:

I SHALL CONQUER THAT WICKED ICING! ALE SHALL PREVAIL!

I made cupcakes today! It's so weird, though - I usually can't stand cooking, and I hadn't touched an oven pretty much at all since high school, when I used to sell cookies with the argument that they buyers would be helping a poor child to feed herself, which was then followed by sad puppy eyes and batting eyelashes, but even then, my dad used to help me everytime, so it was my first time baking completely by myself.

The actual cupcake was delicious, all fluffy and pretty looking - I got the recipe from this blog, but the icing was a complete disaster. I forgot to mix the butter and the shortening until it fot fluffy before adding the powdered sugar, and it, ugh, what's the term in English... 'se cortó', whatever, and it was pretty yucky lucking. Still, my dad had two in a row and my brother, who had been mocking them steadily for half an hour, had to admit grudgingly that he liked it. In all, it was a lot of fun, and I plan on baking a lot now that I'm on vacation and have nothing better to do.

Will get more icing recipes and try again, because I'm nothing if not determined.

Other than that, I spent my evening laughing my ass off reading this blog about passive-agressive notes. Being a bit of a passive-agressive myself, I found it just hilarious.