Iron Chef Challenge over spring break

Over the break, I participated in an Iron Chef challenge among friends. We were split up into three teams, given a $40 budget and four hours to make three dishes that best incorporated peanuts. The dishes were judged by three independent judges, two of them were parents and a sister. The judges scored the dishes based on their taste, presentation and use of peanut.

Kevin, Eric and Jonathan C. were on my team and we worked very well together. The love we displayed while calling each other the n-word and other horrible names simply flowed into our work. The dishes were split up by person, with Kevin working on the entree (Pork chop with Thai peanut sauce), Eric on the dessert (Peanut butter and chocolate bar) and Jonathan C. on the appetizer (Jalapenos stuffed with peanut butter). I just sort of walked around and made sure everything was looking good. My shining moment was in the decorating stage, where I completely blew away the competition.

The darkest hour of the competition occurred when the jalapeno stuffed with peanut butter first came out of the oven. I was skeptical about this dish from the beginning but Kevin decided to use it for its simplicity and I agreed. When we tasted the dish, my heart dropped because the dish was terrible. I was sure that we were going to lose the competition because of the appetizer alone. Eric tried to save the dish by spicing it up with salt, cayenne pepper and coconut milk but it did not help much. In the last hour of the competition, I make the decision to drown the peppers in coconut milk and top it off with cayenne pepper. And it worked! Well sort of, it turned the dish from terrible to passable.

Certain individuals on one of the teams from the onset of the competition, was very arrogant and obnoxious and I wished for nothing more while I was cooking than to win and rub it in their faces. When we did finally win, I was damn obnoxious about it, though Kevin was not too humble either.


Eric crushing graham crackers



This was Kevin's second Iron Chef but somehow he still manages to look confused



This was Jonathan C. first time cooking and it really showed...



Kevin's responsibility was the pork chop entree



Eric was in charge of the dessert which was the highest ranked dish



Kevin cutting up a pepper for the pork chops



Jonathan C. was in charge of the appetizer, jalapenos stuffed with peanut butter. This dish stole the show with its "creativity"



Lounging around after finishing all of our dishes way too early



Left to right: 1) Pork Chop with a Thai peanut sauce. 2) Peanut butter bar. 3) Jalapenos stuffed with peanut butter.

- Iron Chef muffinman

Cheer up Diane...

This entry is way way over due. I had this draft saved since 2/19 and for some reason it was blank despite the fact that I have had many ideas for it. Most of you have not met my friends at UCSD, so I figure who better to introduce first than arguably the best and closest friend I have made since coming to SD.


This is Diane

Diane is one of the most laid back people I have ever met so much so that she constantly gives off the impression that she is high even when she is stressed. Despite her appearance of nonchalance, she cares a great deal about her friends. She is always ready to listen, help and offer quirky advice.

I still remember that when I told her I felt alone and was tired of being single, she told me to go to perks, our bookstore cafe, as much as possible so that one day I would run into that coffee loving girl and find love. That advice has not yet been taken, but it leaves me with a smile every time I am reminded of it.

The only reason I went to my economics classes these two quarters (well quarter and a half) was because of Diane. She would wake me up for those god awful morning classes, and wait for me even when I made us late for class. I became so dependent on her for getting to class that at times when she could not get me, I was literally lost. Without Diane, I forgot where my classes were and sometimes even what time they started. Little did I know that I had the same impact on her and when I dropped all my econ classes, she lost all her motivation and stopped going too.

I stayed up late tonight to write out this post because Diane is not too happy right now and could use some appreciation at this time.

Diane, you are not as alone as you think. You have many friends who care and appreciate you, including me! So cheer up already!

When I leave, you will definitely be missed. That's really what I wanted to say.

-muffinman

Oxford

To be honest, this trip wasn't spectacular because I should have gone to Berlin with my friends; unfortunately, I had class on Friday, so there would have been no point for me to go with them (At the London Study Abroad site, if you miss even one day of class you lose three percent of your final grade!). Instead, we had to go to Oxford University to attend a lecture on "the Morality of Immigration for the EU", which I thought was complete bullshit. We still got a tour of Oxford out of it so I suppose it wasn't a complete waste of time, despite the three hour bus ride there and back.

Highlights:


Our tour guide.

He tried to incorporate a lot of American ties to the Universities, such as which of the founding fathers of the individual colonies went to which school and where Bill Clinton lived while he was on his Rhodes Scholars, but sometimes it went a little over the top. Even still, it was a nice touch for him to try to get us relate to the school.


The infamous Oxford University Press which I am sure you have all cited as the publisher on your papers at one point or another.


One of the oldest buildings in Oxford (almost 700 years old!) although it has since been converted into an Orange Mobile store.


After the tour, we went to the market to check it out. Dead rabbits for sale...


Meat pies!!! Delicious, especially with the mashed potatoes, minty peas, and gravy poured on top of everything.


Einstein's proof for the red shift theory, preserved from his guest lecture at Oxford.

Additional Pictures

-Emoinacloset

Enron: The Play

Enron Theatre

I was originally expected a musical. The play had been promoted as a musical, yet there were only a couple songs. The actors did not burst into song at random intervals as you would expect. The play was went to had been organized by NYU, and the actual performance was on 12 March, even though I haven't posted it until now. I thought it would be prudent to talk about this, because I thought it was a great show.

However, the aspect of the play I want to point out the most is the intensity of the whole scandal. For those of you who don't know, the Enron scandal was caused because Enron, despite it having no profits allowed its debt to be placed into a separate company technically owned by Enron. With the financial crash that happened after 9/11, Enron officially became bankrupt.


Enron Stage

In any case, the sense that the people who ran Enron were geniuses who let their convictions of "social Darwinism" let them think survival of the fittest and get too greedy with themselves was well portrayed. Philosophical arguments such as these which were littered throughout the play were insightful and made you think. For example:

“You ask me how can you take advantage of that? That’s what businesses do! Asking me that question is like asking me... how do I make a living?” (referring to deregulation in California energy markets)

On the whole, I felt the play did a good job in explaining how the Enron collapse had actually happened so that even non finance/econ/business majors could understand it. Also, interesting note: although it seems the British really like the play as well, they do not give standing ovations. I guess they are too dignified to do anything like such. Overall, it is a powerful, timely and thought-provoking piece of theatre. I would like to leave you with a quote from the play itself, so that you can think of its own merits:

[At the final monologue,] pointing at the peaks and troughs on a large historical chart of the US stock market, [Jeff] Skilling, [CEO of Enron convicted of fraud] turns to the audience and says: “That’s our mirror. Every dip, every crash, every bubble that’s burst, a testament to our brilliant stupidity. This one gave us the railroads. This one the internet. This one the slave trade. And if we hope to do anything about saving the environment or getting to other worlds, we’ll need a bubble for that too. Everything I’ve ever done in my life worth anything has been done in a bubble; in a state of extreme hope and trust and stupidity.”

Production opens on Broadway in April; I highly recommend this play. If I could watch it again, I would.

-Emoinacloset

Epilogue: Land Of The Shady Characters

Yes, I am still talking about Spain.

And yes, despite all the paella, art, and beaches that we enjoyed, there definitely was a shady aspect to both Madrid and Barcelona.

There must not be very many Asians in Spain because when my friends and I went, people kept staring at us. Granted, this might not have seemed strange; after all, we were a group of ten Asians, half of us were holding DSLR cameras, and we kept consulting the tourist map every turn we reached. Even still, what unnerved me was the fact that people seemed to single us out for this very reason. Spain must not get too many Asian immigrants -- I don't think they've had any major Asian interests since the 19th century -- I suppose they've never had the opportunity to get to know Asians.

I mean, this one time late at night when we were going to go out in Barcelona, this group of drunk Spaniards tried to trip me and my friends on our way up out of the subway. This might not seem like much, but it was still pretty sketch.

As for pickpocketing in Spain, we were standing in a subway car, minding our own business, talking about the sights we had just seen when an old Spanish lady sitting near us warned us about a shady looking guy who had been eyeing our cameras, wallets, and bags. She said she had seen him on the subways a lot, pickpocketing people here and there. We thanked her afterwards for the warning, and as we left, she told us that pickpocketers target Asians because they know we are tourists. Our professor back at NYU had warned us before we went abroad that at least one in ten of us were going to get pickpocketed. I laughed it off then, thinking that I wasn't going to be another statistic; but it really did happen.

We had two real pickpocketing incidents:

The first time, a pickpocket lifted my friend's wallet from her purse while we were on the subway. He was trying to take the wallet and slip through the train doors as it closed, but she managed to snatch it back from him, saying, "Give that back!" We were lucky the first time.

The second time we were not so lucky.

In Barcelona, a couple of guys in our group decided to go out. We (me and Jim, mostly) had been waiting for this moment ever since we had gotten to Spain; we even brought our dress shoes from London because we heard the bouncers in Spain didn't let guys in if they didn't have dress shoes. Ruby's friend, Hannah, and Kevin's friend, Connie, who were studying abroad there at the time took us out. However, the night we went out in Barcelona was unnerving as well.

On the way to the meeting point, we were bombarded in the subway by a group of drunk Spanish people yelling "Chino!" Now, I had no idea what this meant so I shrugged it off, but one of our friends did and she knew this was a racial slur against Asians.

Next, my friend and I were waiting to get on train a little ways away from the rest of the group. Once the train came and the doors opened, we started to get pushed into the car by a group of four people. At first, the only thing I thought was 'well this is certainly strange and unwarranted' until I felt a hand feeling up my back pocket. I instantly put my hands in my pockets so that he wouldn't be able to take anything -- I could feel his hand brushing up against mine as he tried to lift my wallet, but fortunately I was able to prevent my wallet getting stolen. My friend on the other hand was not so lucky, and his wallet got taken from his front pocket.

At this point, he had a look on his face that said, "I will beat the shit out of you" to the one woman in the group out of four, so eventually they threw his wallet on the ground and said, "Hey! Your wallet is on the floor there!" I suppose he just went with it, because he knew he had lost 20 euros to those thieves, but at least he was able to get his wallet and his credit cards back...

In conclusion: Spain is a nice place, and I encourage you to go visit, but just be wary of your surroundings and any potential pickpocketers

-Emoinacloset

Scorpion Lollipop

Remember that Scorpion lollipop at Powell's Sweet Shoppe that we were always too scared to try? Well Kevin tried it!


Here we go!



At this point Kevin has gotten to the tail.



Kevin stares at the daunting challenge ahead.



No fear



According to Kevin, the scorpion tasted like salty ass and once the scorpion was gone, the whole lollipop lost its appeal.

And there you have it kids. A scorpion lollipop will not kill you but will leave your mouth tasting like ass. I am tempted to try the one with the cricket now.

-muffinman

Robocop has been found...

What an uneventful and frustrating end to the search for Robocop. I just got off the phone with Jessica K. who I asked to call Robocop's mom for me, and it looks like Robocop is still out on the east coast and will not be back for spring break.

Robocop is with his cousins and checking out their small business because he wants a change.

As for why his phone has been off, his mom suspects that there is a problem with his charger.

Thanks Robocop for being a complete bitch and making everyone wonder where you are. Not to mention the fact that none us have talked to you yet.

-muffinman

Robocop, where the fuck are you?!

Two weeks ago, I was looking on Robocop's facebook wall and saw Jennie's wall post:

"...your phone has been off for the past week. i sense a relapse into old Robocop. i'm planning spring break plans and i'm thinking of going home, but all my returning flights to boston are around 11:30PM. The commuter rail back to providence stops so i'm kinda stranded. can you take me in sat night?"

Interested and somewhat concerned, I called Robocop and sure enough his phone was off. I kept trying for the next week and every single time I went straight to voice mail.

Flash forward now to today, my first day of spring break. At noon I called Robocop's house phone but I just got the beep every time and after just one ring. I vaguely remembered that this was normal so I did not think much of it.

Later, I decide to head over to his house, because nothing solves a missing person case like a surprise visit to their home. Imagine my surprise when I pull up to Robocop's house and see a sold sign on his lawn. The feeling of WHAT THE FUCK only increased when I called his house phone again and this time listened to the message past the beep, "the number you have called has been disconnected." After hearing that I could not help but yell out a loud "WHAT" in disbelief.

A group of neighbors were on the sidewalk and I approached them trying to make sense of what was going on. Turns out the house was sold last month, which was even more of a shocker. One of the neighbors offered to give Robocop's father a call to find out where he was, so I gave the neighbor my number and left.

Terribly confused and trying to wrap my mind around the situation, I went over to my friend Eric's house. He was chatting with Emoinacloset when I arrived. After hearing from me on facebook that Robocop's house had been sold, Emoinacloset immediately stalked out Robocop's sister's facebook and from the posts that he read, it looks like Robocop is moving to Saratoga, a town 15 minutes away. Thank god for social networks.

Robocop, where ever the fuck you are hurry up and contact me because I am getting tired of tracking your ass down. The longer and more effort this search takes, the more I am going to beat the shit out of you. You cannot just drop off the face of the earth for 3 plus weeks and move without telling any of your friends.

-muffinman

I feel vindicated!

The last three weeks of work has been anything but fun. A lack of actual marketing projects and a realization that I really suck at secretarial work has made me dread going to work. Things only got worse when thing I got blamed for things that were out of my control.

Due to a database error, entries that I have been entering in have been disappearing. This created the illusion that I was fucking up really badly and also not doing my work. Since I already sucked at secretary work, the matter of disappearing DVD orders prompted the secretary to tell my boss that I was not doing my job. Despite my explanation that it was the databases fault and that I had indeed entered in those records, the secretary still insisted it was my fault. She reasoned that I had too many windows open and that was why my computer was messing up. As you can imagined, that was not a good day at work.

Things only got worse when my boss asked me for those youtube video comments that I was supposed to be logging. She asked me why there were so few, and well I could not really answer her because all of them disappeared. I could see that she was giving me the benefit of the doubt about whether I was doing my job, but after half an hour of trying to find them and failing, I was beginning to believe her too.

Flash forward to today. After another set of DVD orders disappeared from the database, I finally spoke to our tech woman about it. What we discovered was that my entries were indeed in the database, they were just not being indexed correctly so nobody could find them. I suppressed my urge to yell out "I told you so" to the secretary.

Needless to say, work today was great.

-muffinman

Coffee Over... SNSD & Kpop

The context to our conversation was today's release of SNSD's new teaser for their "Black SoShi" song. For those who do not know, SNSD is one of the most popular Korean girl pop groups today. Ask most Asian guys who they are and they will immediately claim their favourite, saying why she is the best member in the group and defending her honour. After all, she is going to be his future girlfriend someday(?).

Muffinman linked me the teaser, after which I got really excited.

Emoinacloset: OWWW

HOT HOT HOT

[after watching the video a couple more times]

ooo shit...

fuck

damn, I am so excited.

Afterwards, we went off into one of our tangential philosophical discussions.

Muffinman: I cannot find [SNSD’s new single] in the Oh! Album.

Emoinacloset: Maybe it will be released as a mini-album or a digital single.

Muffinman: Maybe…

Koreans have such a weird [album] release system.

Emoinacloset: Well, it keeps them in the public longer.

People don't have to wait so long for a new album.

Muffinman: Yeah, but then they are smaller albums.

Emoinacloset: Yeah, but Korea has those live performance stages which the US doesn't have.

Also stars don't get paid as much.

Muffinman: Well yeah stars don't get paid as much because the market is way smaller

And American artists have live performances too?

Emoinacloset: No, but Korea has specific music program shows where artists will go and perform to promote their single and they perform it 4-5 times a week for a month.

Besides, what's wrong with smaller albums?

Muffinman: You get less then what you pay for?

Do you think the mini albums cost half as much as a full album?

Emoinacloset: Yeah, but competition in the industry is so fierce.

If you're out of the spotlight for even a little you're gone.

Think about how many Korean girl groups there are.

Muffinman: Yeah, plus they pretty much all sound the same.

Emoinacloset: Kind of. But yeah, fierce competition.

Muffinman: You think the competition is more than in the US?

Emoinacloset: Yeah. If you think about it, there are always certain industry leaders that come to mind in the US.

Muffinman: Hmm, come to think of it, I think it is easier to get a contract in Korea, but harder to stay relevant or stick around compared to the US.

Definitely a quality over quantity thing in the US.

Emoinacloset: I guess... Or maybe they just invest more in their stars.

Muffinman: Even the selection process is more geared toward quality.

Like think of the way of how US stars get signed and think about how Korean stars are signed.

Emoinacloset: Well, I don't really know how US stars get signed

Muffinman: Like talent scouts? And just overall underground popularity.

Emoinacloset: Ahh I see what you mean.

Muffinman: Like, they have a music career usually before they turn pro.

Emoinacloset: Yeah, Korean stars are more manufactured.

They start training since middle school and then sign on to a label once they pass auditions. Then the label will train them some more until they are ready and fit them into a group

Muffinman: Really? They train for this?

Emoinacloset: Yeah, also because those tutoring schools are a lot cheaper in Korea. Although I'm sure the good ones are expensive too

Muffinman: Interesting. That is why there is so much more variety in the US pop scene

Emoinacloset: Nah, I think the lack of variety in Korean pop music is because Korean society is more homogenous than US society is.

And there is more pressure to conform

Muffinman: That is true.

There is really no other genre of music besides pop in Asian countries

Emoinacloset: Yeah, seriously. In Korea, rap is just taking off barely. Even 5 years ago everything was underground.

Muffinman: But still a small following right? Has it entered mainstream society yet?

Emoinacloset: Yeah, much smaller than normal Kpop.

Epik High is popular and I think Drunken Tiger is getting recognition.

But the market is still not very big.

If anything, Epik High is getting more "pop-ish".

Muffinman: Well, that happens to every band that becomes mainstream right?

Emoinacloset: I suppose.

Any thoughts?

-Emoinacloset

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Addendum: The music video is now out!

I am a Marketing Genius!

This might be two week old news, but I still think it is worth telling.

On February 27th, the 5th Annual Financial Horizons Conference took place, and it was an overwhelming success. The event had 540 registered attendees, the actual amount who came is estimated to be about 60%, but I will have a concrete number when I finally motivate myself to go through the sign in lists (probably over spring break). Thanks to June, the mom of the club, (who I appreciate more and more the longer I am in UIS) everything went smoothly and without a hitch.

In addition, there were some amazing speakers in attendance. The ex-COO of Enron, Harold Buchanan, gave a presentation elegantly explained why Enron's actions were not criminal but just bad business. I am not sure whether I completely believe him or not, but his presentation really opened my eyes to another side of the story, not often told.

Another notable speaker was Mike Alfred, the founder of Brightscope. Brightscope is a 401k ratings company that is gaining more and more traction everyday. A lot of major news outlets have already taken note of his start up and pointed it out as the next big thing. Not surprisingly, he gave quite the anti-establishment speech about success, which is always refreshing. It is good to know that your major does not limit you or doom you to a certain career. Seeing Mike, a history major in college, start a successful finance company I can really believe that I can do anything.

Definitely the best part of this whole conference experience is getting credited by the co-president for making it a success. Justified or not, he feels that it was all my work that brought in these record numbers. It feels great when you see your flyers, tweets and facebook posts having an effect in bringing people in. The data I have gathered does not seem to suggest that I played such a major role in drawing people in, but goddammit I am still taking credit for the record turn out on my resume, and if someone credits me, who am I to turn it down!

-muffinman

Barcelona Love

Barcelona beaches

When we got to Barcelona it was fairly cloudy – however, on the day we left it was really nice. The sun was out, the beach was soothing, and the sand felt good between our toes. Even though there was a lot we could potentially do in Barcelona, we opted to be a bit lazier than we were in Madrid and take our time to enjoy the beaches. Even still, we saw the Cathedral Familia, Gaudi's Casa Batlló, Gaudi's Pedrera, Placa de Catalunya, Las Ramblas, and Port Olympic.


Sand sculpture


Gotta love that European liberty


Came straight from the farm


Cathedral Familia, back. Designed by Gaudi, famous Barcelona architect


Cathedral Familia, front


Gaudi's Casa Batlló


Gaudi's Pedrera


Placa de Catalunya


Tapas, Spanish morsels of delicious


Barcelona beaches at night


Port Olympic


Waves crashing against the rocks


Best paella in all of Barcelona, at Can Majo restaurant


Street performers


I'm going to miss these Spanish skies...

Additional Pictures

-Emoinacloset

Interlude: I Went To Hogwarts And Back

I didn't really, but I got the next best thing:



I found Platform 9 3/4.

-Emoinacloset

Trip Número Dos: España!

Matador!

Yeah, aren't I a lucky bitch. First I get to go to Paris, then I go to Madrid and Barcelona the following week -- life is fucking good right now.

We wake up at five in the morning, and get on a Ryanair plane, an airline which emphasizes its cheap tickets over service (a one way ticket to Madrid was around 30 pounds). The plane looked like it had touched down from the land of the sketch. Yeah, it flew -- and that was about it. The inside looked as if the people at Ryanair had exclusively used the "Fill" button on Paint to design the interior. To make matters even more sketch, the seats didn't even recline, allowing for a very uncomfortable plane ride.


Plane of the sketch

We touched down, checked in at our beautiful hotel -- right next to the airport. We got pretty gypped last minute in terms of our accommodations, so we were forced to stay in a place far outside the city center. At least the hotel was nice, even if the bathrooms didn't have locks on them.





On the first day, we basically failed in all aspects. Having failed to plan anything to do, we spent an hour looking for some Paella (it sucked); spent two hours at Zara -- a Spanish clothing store chain -- because the girls thought Zara in Spain would be different than a Zara in London or New York (it wasn't); and then walked down the theatre district looking for dinner when we finally settled at a Burger King (definitely authentic).

It was a sad state of affairs when we went back home. We were all exhausted and for what? Walking around in circles all day, failing to do any sightseeing that day -- I was not going to let a repeat of that day happen. When we got back, I researched what exactly there is to do in Madrid and made up an itinerary. Jim figured out the food.

We ended up hitting up all the major spots: Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Catedral de la Almudena, El Retiro (the Central Park of Madrid), Museo del Prado, Gran Via, Alonso Martinez, and finally Plaza de España.

These trip posts are really taking a lot out of me. It takes too much time to flesh out everything in detail when all the pictures are there, so here I will just post the highlights of Madrid; Barcelona will be reserved for another post.


Symbol of Madrid, in Puerta del Sol


Plaza Mayor


Fat Spiderman at the Plaza Mayor


Palacio Real


Main door of the Catedral de la Almudena
Jim: "~king in the castle~ king in the castle~ Go take a picture with the king."
Kevin: "That's the pope Jim."


Palacio Real, garden view


The lake in El Retiro


The gang saying hello to fellow British travelers


Swan found in El Retiro


Inside the Museo del Prado

Additional Pictures, Madrid

-Emoinacloset