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Oh, before the show, I was on my up the stairs to the venue, I saw the guys all were outside their tour bus BBQing... that was very cool. I almost wanna take a picture except I thought might be kinda rude to do that.
After Wild Sweet Orange finished their set, the guys were removing their instruments from stage to make more room for Augustana. Waited for a long while before the band started to come on stage. I really like Dan's voice, it sounds exactly if not better than the album. That's when you know his voice wasn't "enhanced" through the recording process. Initially, I was gonna make a set-list, but it was just too crowded. After WSO's show was over, Everyone just squeezed up to the front as possible. Quiet crowded = no personal space = no arm movements either. They started off with Hey Now, songs from the 2nd album + Boston, and ended with the encored performance of Bob Dylan's Baby, Please don't go. When it was time to play "Fire", it was just him and John playing the keyboards. BTW: The keyboard was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Just his voice and piano sounds moving you. His voice was so good. They did "Sunday's Best" with John and Dan on acoustic guitars, and Chris in this really tiny guitarish? all in front of mic together. very soft and soothing. During the song, he changed the lyric from " I wonder why you never cry, When Boston's always raining" to "I wonder why you always crying, When Houston never rain." That was so cool~ Then they sang "Reason" with all the band members standing around the mic. Dan and Chris played the acoustic guitars. With the guys all sang the chorus/refrain of the song. Jared, Chris, and John sang solo phrases. South was a bit too far to hear.... the whole time...... Then they finally got to "Sweet and Low" my another fav off the album. Then Dan played Boston on the keyboard again with the rest of the band this time.... so cool. Oh somewhere in between the songs, he changed up the lyrics to Houston. That was very exciting 'cause he actually remembered where he was currently at. They didn't really talked at all during the live, but that fine by me 'cause more time to enjoy the music.
After the show ended, went to find my autographs/pictures outside the band's tour bus. First, Dan came out of tour bus, couldn't decide whether he want to go back inside the venue to continue putting up his stuff or sign autographs because he know it was getting late. So he went back inside first...... after he promised people he'll be back in 15 min... no 10 minutes.... John then came out venue was at once surrounded by fans (me included) for request and photos. He's really nice and down to earth. Then Dan came out, immediately got surrounded by people left and right. I like how when fans approached him to sign/take picture he would extend his hand and said "Hi, I'm Dan." and shakes people's hand. Way cool, like for some reason he thinks no one knows or something. After Dan, Jared came out. He's really soft-spoken but have an air of confidence about him that's not egoistic or anything. Once again, very approachable. Actually all of them were very approachable except Chris. I don't know... will get into that later. South came out after Jared. Nice guy all around too. Then someone asked Jared or Dan that where is Chris, and said that he got friends in town or something. Few moments later, when I was just about to go home I saw Chris sitting outside with a beer in his hand. So fans including me approached him to have pics/autographs by him. I mean, he's very willing to take pictures and autographs for people... but during the process he spilled his beer when he put it down on the floor. I think he was mad haha... Yeah so the feeling I got from Chris was a bit unapproachable... can't describe it..... just not as friendly yet still friendly but something was not right. Overall, had a great time..... and got everyone's autographs.
pics to come later~
BTW: 2nd row on the right! therefore great pictures except for some blond bimbos' hair in front. TRUST ME, they are bimbos!!!!
BTW2: I totally didn't know about the band nor what's their name until after the concert where I got their autographs/pics and asked them.
(^_^;) I promise, next time if they ever come back to in Houston, I will be better. (^_-)db(-_^)NOTE: very very unorganized thoughts right now... still adding stuff. Working Process
Yesterday went to see Augustana featuring Wild Sweet Orange and Paddy Casey. Paddy Casey interesting guy but the band that totally took me by surprise was Wild Sweet Orange. They were so so good, amazing, and way better than my expectation.... almost better than Augustana.
W(`0`)W (I would enjoy them better if I know their songs :-P) So this post is all about WILD SWEET ORANGE experience. interesting name Wild Sweet Orange. Augustana next post.... sometime soon...I think since Augustana is the headliner of the tour, they have their drum set, 2 keyboards, piano, and all other stuff on stage along with WSO's band equipments therefore forced WSO to put their equipments close to the front of the stage. Which was an unexpected bonus because I had a great view of the bands except for guitar player because he was right in front of my line of sight!!
Preston, vocal for WSO, got an awesome soothing yet rockish voice. Very hypnotics.... don't know why but yeah..... You can totally hear his emotions through the lyrics... or it could just be my imagination. Very addicting. His style and voice seems very familiar but at the same time unique. WEIRD~~ I thought it was funny how he commented that the microphone taste like vanilla or pineapple chapstick. In my mind that translated into EWWW GROSSSSSS!!!! He's eating the mike dude. Wish he had talk more and talk about band's background, but I understand since he knew pretty much everyone in the audience was there for Augustana. But he did reiterate the band's name many many times. I think he said he wrote a song about his first love in Third Grade?? or something about third grade... beats me! He sorta mumbles when he talks.... I don't know why people said they have a very souther rock sound... what exactly is a southern rock sound??!?!?! I think he sounds so much better live than on cd... maybe it is the whole atmosphere thingy.
Chip, the drummer for WSO, was SO AWESOME last night! Usually I'm not the type to pay attention to drummer because they usually situated in the back of the stage and can't see them in pitch darkness..... but not this concert. It was really enjoyable watching him because he was really good! Oh I can't describe it! You just have to see him live in order to appreciate his art (haha). The way he was drumming through the slow and fast tempo of the each songs.... just WOW how does he do that...and doesn't his arms hurt?? Especially I can see how hard yet graceful he was move his arms around. His arms were all over places... and his facial expressions were just priceless. I also found it really cool how in middle of a sorta semi-fast song ( i think.... memory gap) he broke one of his drum stick and pick up a new one without missing a beat. That was cool. Not sure if it is the part where he broke the drumstick or the not missing a beat part that's cool or just simply both (shrugs). I don't know how to explain the coolness. Just go and watch him live drumming away... go see for yourself and you'll know. I'm sure there are much better drummers that are wiser, older, and better. But for an semi-unknown band, he's my favorite drummer probably forever too.
Garrett, the bass player needs to cut his hair along with the guitar player, Taylor. During the show, all I saw was hair in their face. like this
//_o\ !!! Very rock image but annoying at same time because you can't see their facial expressions. Since both of them were mostly out of my line of sight, I can't really comment anything except what i heard. The guitar player was really great last night. The way the guitar parts sounds and how perfectly it fits. No musical background, to really describe it well, all i know is I like it! Bass dude, um sorry, I can't really pick out the bass sound.......... :-p i blame it on the sound system??? For me, bass and drum sounds the same. m(_ _)m m(_ _)mMy favorite song "No Man's Land" at least i think it is the song where there's one part one part of the lyric is "she don't believe anything....I would believe in anything...." That part is very very addicting. I was still humming it after Augustana's performance was over. Vocalist's voice and the weird guitar(?) sound just match perfectly with the song and the mood. ( they did play that song right? or did I just imagine it?????) Plus, I love those kind of songs.... I don't see that song on itunes... hopefully it will be on their album.
After the show, the band was in the merchandise section signing autographs and taking pictures. Of course now really liking their stuff went to buy their t-shirt (the orangeish shirt with the a boy sitting on top of the turtle). I also really like the whale upside down, that's my favorite but I didn't get it because i want them autographing the tees and that shirt is a dark purple...... not really visible with ink. Now I'm regretting it. I have to say they have really really cool graphics on their tees. You know the kind that you won't feel weirdly out of place if you wear in normal non-concert atmosphere. Their shirts could pass off as Urban Outfitter tees.
Overall, I really like their performances and hope to see more of them in the near future. COME BACK!!! They seems like bunch of cool guys..and really nice. Boys next door with an edge? Very cool band! I'm pretty sure in near future big things will come to them.
( Pics )
saw:
1. at least 6 whales (orca and some kind of whale) from the cruise ship
2 . a seal resting on top of a tiny glacier ) cute!
3. at least 3 eagles
4. 1 hot/cute single guy that is under age of 30! too bad don't know his name.... but will be forever in my memory... or until next week. his twin (i think! they look really alike) brother is not bad looking either. gotta be not marry right.... who else go on an Alaska cruise with his brother if he's not single?! :-) (on side note: should have stay and find out what's his name and his cabin #!!!!) HaHa~ (OH! Cute guy if you ever read this entry tell me your name!!!!!!!!!!!!) Let's see what else, he was on a bike tour and got sunburned at Juneau.... I think he and his brother were like the only 2 people in the whole ship that actually got sunburned in Alaska.
5. plenty of glaciers... I touched and walked on the Taku Glacier!
6. a lot a lot of old people!!! A LOT!!!
7. way too many merchandise made in China! Really hard to find any true Alaskan made souvenirs.
8. way too many stinky ugly annoying people cutting in lines! I didn't stand in line for 1 hour just so you can cut in front of ME!!!!!!!
9. way too much food!!! by the end of the cruise they all tasted the same.
10. way too many jewelry stores that all sell the same thing over and over again in every port!!!!!!
more to come later.... need to stop feeling like i'm still on the ship~~ rocking...rocking... at least it is getting better.
Really like Augustana's new single Sweet and Low!!! Sorta like Wallflower/Coldplayish
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( Read more... )
I've been reading about all the craze about how good these cupcakes are b/c celebrities and filthy rich people in L.A. flock to them like there's no tomorrow . (oh and it was featured on Oprah too) Plus i heard the Sprinkles stores always have lines forming and blah blah blah about how long you have to stand @ store just to buy them. So of course I couldn't resist picking up a tube for me.... Dark Chocolate was screaming "Pick ME! Pick Me! You don't want vanilla or lemon or red velvet" So I couldn't resist my inner self and picked me up a tube for $14.00.... yes i know $14.00 for a cupcake mix that makes 12 cupcakes. But think about it, if there's a store here i would have to pay 3.25 per cupcake so it is definitely cheaper!... or that's how I kept convincing myself the whole time i was @ WS until the time I walked out of the store.
Oh by the way I found the hot cocoa in the baking section next to the Sprinkles Cupcake Mix.... WTF they should stop moving stuff around in that store! Side note, while i was waiting at register, this woman in front of me bought 3 bags of pre-mix waffle/pancakes mix, maple syrup, and something else...... for grand total of $61something. I wonder if those pancakes mix and maple syrup any good.......
So, i wasn't planning on baking the cupcakes until tomorrow or the weekend, but while i was showering all i could think about was that cupcake tube. So yup once again my inner voice overruled my common sense in eating fattening food past 7:00pm. I read the recipe, these cupcakes required a lot of butter!!! not the best thing for your figure......
Test result: they definitely smell nicer than your regular grocery store box brand... fluffier too. DENSE Nice decoration on top with that blue dot thingy.... The frosting recipe that was included in the tube is really really good. But does this cupcake mix worth $14.00 and the answer is NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNnNOOOOOOOOO
Let me just point out it is good... but nothing spectacular about it... maybe the ones at stores are better but as far as I can tell if you put Sprinkles with Betty or Duncan's mix, i would go with Betty or Duncan. Especially they are so much cheaper and I wouldn't feel guilty about chunking them after 3 days b/c I can't finish them.
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I'm considering Anthropologie's duvet set... for 99.99.... gotta think about that one for a while.
Edit 2: I also went to Abecrombie & Fitch and bought a sweater/shirt for 39.99.
Edit 3: Went to JCrew again and bought a headband (red and white) for 3.99+20% Off and stripe scarf for 29.99+20% off.
like above but mine are multi color (purple, purple, yellow, white, green, red) + prettier stripes.....
First attempt, it failed b/c that stupid recipe requires me to add 3/4 cups of sugar to 6 egg yolks + 1 lb of marscapone cheese. It was sooooooooooooo SWEET i thought my teeth were literally rotting away while i was eating it and for like 3 hours afterward. Dare I point out, that recipe had the least amount of sugar out of all the recipe i looked at Allrecipe.com. I didn't use any from Foodnetwork b/c they all use raw eggs... and i want one that uses double boiled cooked egg process. After realizing it was too sweet, I reduced the sugar from 3/4 cup to 3 tablespoon gradually. It was a sucess! YUMMY! Plus i didn't add the huge amount of whipped cream that all of Allrecipe recipes require. Saved me like another 15 grams of fat there probably. I just looked up the tiramisu recipes from Foodnetwork, they only need 3 tablespoon or 1/4 cup of sugar plus no whipped cream... why does those ladies at Allrecipe need that much sugar and extra fat!
So, i finally decided that i want to buy Gilmore GIrls DVD season 5 and 6 because they are the best seasons from the series. For $23.99, good thing i bought it on Monday 'cause on Tuesday it went back to the regular price of $39.99 each. I just realized that series' DVD only have full screen and no wide screen DVD option, kinda sucks since i planned on buying LCD tv in like 20 years. :-) I also bought the new Super Mario on DS b/c Amazon had 2.00 discount + no tax. yes, not much saving but still..... :D I was originally going to buy it at buy.com they have the google checkout thingy where you can save $10 but they won't take my virtual acct #s...therefore I went f*&$ U and went with Amazon... after trying GC twice.
I wanna watch National Treasure 2 + 27 Dresses....... in theatre and maybe Atonement 'cause i really like James McAvoy in Becoming Jane. He's really hot for some unknown reason while acting in historical films... (much better than in present time films)
minor adjustment - added 1 more cloves of garlic and couple slices of roasted red pepper. Next time, decrease the amount of salt... was a bit too salty for me. but other than that it is GOOOD!
Picture: later~
Edit: Made the brownies..... OH wow so moist and rich. Definitely need to refrigerate the brownies overnight to set it up or it will be too soft. Definitely need to bump/tap/rap the baking sheet so the brownies wouldn't overflow ( if you use the specify baking sheet) I only used 1/2 of the chocolate chips and 1/2 of walnuts for the brownies and that was enough for me. This is like once a year brownies 'cause the ingredients are not cheap (1 lbs of butter is like $3-$6 depending on the brand, chocolate chips 2 bag $2.93ish/bag, and $2.50ish/bar for the 2 chocolate bars. (Ghirardelli chocolates for me... 'cause i like them)
This recipe makes HUGE AMOUNT of BROWNIES + FATTEN!.
Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
This is a success!!! They are chewy and crunchy on the outside, good, yummy, thinish chocolate chip cookies. I'm so keeping this recipe. Once they are cooled, the cookies are chewy!!!Rules to follow for nice chewy chocolate chip cookies:
1. bake cookies in light color pan. Dark pans burn the bottom of the cookies and make cookies cook way too fast. (i actually made this recipe with dark pan last time, and it wasn't chewy at all, and slightly overdone.
2. use less flour than the direction by 1/3 cup. (last time, cookies were bready and overcooked)
3. use only 1tsp of vanilla instead of 1 TBS. That is just way too much vanilla in my opinion.
Edit: my sis said i should open my own c.c.c. shop.
2 tablespoons of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage (i used hot italian sausage)
1/4 pound shiitake (i used 1 small package of white button mushroom 'cause shitake didn't look good in the market)
2 portobello mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped (i used 4 'cause i like garlic, but still not enough afterward though. more next time)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 14-ounce can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pound penne rigate, cooked to al dente ( u can just put as much penne you want and just mix some of the sauce with some of penne that way you can reheat the sauce and cook fresh pasta whenever you want. .... 1 lbs is just too much)
Parmigiano, for grating
Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1
tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it.
Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate. Drain fat from skillet
and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and
then the garlic, onions and mushrooms. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the
onions are tender and mushrooms are browned. Season with salt and
pepper.
Deglaze the pan with the wine. Add chicken stock and heat for one
minute. Stir in pumpkin and incorporate - it will be thick. Return
sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream. Season the sauce with
the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture
5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.
Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Combine sauce and
pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Top with cheese
The pumpkin taste is not too noticeable. You can taste the texture of the pumpkin but it adds creaminess to the pasta. Easy and Good
it is so good. In fact it is so good that i couldn't wait to take a picture first before eating the cheesecake. So all you get is 1/2 of cheesecake. This cheesecake is so fattening though with at least 30 gram of fat. Not the prettiest pictures but i can't help it .... my hand took out a fork on its own and bought a forkload of cheesecake to my mouth.... on its own!!!! The taste of cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice (???), and cheesecake is just yummy. You can't taste the pumpkin at all. Not too sweet and not too bland. Perfect.
Pumpkin Cheesecake & Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake are seasonal cheesecakes so only from October - December.
Caramel Creme Brule (the one in plastic cup) - sorta like white chocolate and caramel on top of semi firm vanilla/egg pudding. Then 2 layers of chocolate cake in between the pudding. (won't get this one again.... blah)
Dark Chocolate Mousse - had this before it is soooooo good. Rich dark chocolate taste that is out of this world. Edit: chocolate cake at the bottome
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PB CLASSIC STRIPE SHEET SET (400-thread-count 100% cotton percale!!! nice, soft, comfy bedsheets :-) ) This one is my favorite, i like the red & cream
Queen Sheet Set $149.00
CLASSIC TICKING STRIPE SHEET SET ( Made of yarn-dyed, 200-thread-count 100% cotton percale ) not as high of thread-count compared to PB Classic
Queen Sheet Set $129.00
This one i like the color red & white + sage & white
One was America's Test Kitchen's Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Well, they got the thick part right but it was hard, dry, and definitely no where near chewy!!!!! Chunked~
Second one was Good Eats recipe from Foodnetwork, The Chewy. The recipe turned out to be slightly cakey because bread flour was used instead of regular all purpose flour. Slightly chewy, but not chewy, chewy kind i have imagined, kinda disappointed. Maybe next time i'll lower the temperature from 375 to 350 or 325ish that other reviewer suggested to see if that will make it chewier. But still yummy cookie~~ fattening probably though...... Plus I used bittersweet chocolate chips b/c i think semi-sweet would just make the cookies tooooooooo sweet.
Swan no Baka! - Seems interesting looks ilke gonna be comedy drama. Main guy is the gay doctor from HanaKimi.
Yukan Club - Akanshi Jin's gonna be in it, but i don't think i'll watch it until it is over and i'm really bored. Not that into it at all.
Haraki Man - seems interesting... it is about a woman workaholic. Feel like it is gonna be a light-hearted drama.
Joshi Deka! - another story about detective story/rookie cop with yuki nakama.
Mop Girl - seems interesting too... about a girl with special ability works at funeral place. Travels back in time to save the person. (kinda like Pushing Daisies and Journeyman merged into one drama.)
SP - Junichi Okada plays a bodyguard with special ability. Mainly watching this drama b/c Okada is a really good actor plus he's cute.
Couple of drama i'm pretty interested, some i'm not. A lot of detective/rookie cop story this Fall, i hope i'm not burned out from watching way too many of the same plotline dramas. BLAH~
Surprisingly, my fav 2 drama from summer is Hotaru no Hikari & Papa to Musume no Nanokakan they are both really great dramas and surprising very enjoyable. If you haven't watch it yet and have some time on your hand give it a try.
