1) edible arrangements specializes in creating delicious fruit designs filled with fresh strawberries, pineapple, grapes, oranges, cantaloupe, honeydew, bananas and pears. the first time i saw one of these exquisite creations was at a event on maiden lane in san francisco to kick off fashion week. the arrangement was quite eye-catching and impressive, and the fruit was heavenly.2) as corny and tasteless as the writing is, i cannot resist an austin powers flick! i love the overwhelmingly crude innuendos and comedic one-liners. i guess its raunchiness is what makes it what it is – a movie that obviously shouldn’t be taken seriously but one that is filled with refreshing comedy that will have you laughing the entire time.
3) poke is hawaiian for "section" or "to slice or cut". the modern form of poke consists of roughly one-inch cubes of raw fish garnished with a selection of seaweed, chopped scallions, chopped onion, soy sauce and a variety of other components. although you can use mussels, crabs or octopus for your poke, i prefer ahi. no contest, the best poke i’ve ever had was in hawaii.
4) cindy introduced these series of books to me. kokology is the study of kokoro which in japanese means "mind" or "spirit". the series of kokology books were created by isamu saito, a professor at rissho and waseda universities in japan and an author of a number of bestselling books regarding psychology and relationships. the books present a series of psychological games and hypotheticals that are designed to reveal one's hidden attitudes about sex, family, love, work, and other elements of one's life. it is essentially a game of self-discovery that can provide interesting, and often hilarious insight by answering questions to seemingly innocent topics. these tests are fun on road trips or breaking the ice (i.e. the first few e-mails that ryan and i exchanged when we first started dating!).
5) when i went to vancouver, i had the best lox cream cheese bagel at granville island. topped with capers and cucumbers, it was the perfect piece of cured salmon.
6) so i guess i must like grape juice a lot since it was a happy thought about a week ago. besides the antioxidant factor, what else can i say…? research, while still in the early stages, suggests that the antioxidants in grape juice may also protect brain cells directly. for example, experiments at tufts university suggest that grape juice may improve the strength, memory, and coordination of laboratory rats.
7) i found this specialty school on yelp.com. the national holistic institute is a massage school that offers 50-minute massages for the price of $35, or $25 when they have specials. my back is in desperate need for some serious rubbing!
8) tetris is a video puzzle game originally designed and programmed by alexey pajitnov in june 1985, while working for the dorodnicyn computing centre of the academy of science of the ussr in moscow. he derived its name from the greek numerical prefix "tetra-", as all of the pieces contain four segments, and tennis, pajitnov's favorite sport. loved this game back in the day, and currently prefer to play the original version of this game.
9) i’ve been wanting to go to sugar, butter, flour for a while now. i finally did today and took home an individual dessert – a chocolate truffle cake. so rich but so yummy!
10) today is national joe day, a chance to change your name if only for today. i have ambivalent feelings towards my name…there are times when i wish it was more feminine, had more than one syllable or didn’t rhyme with too many words. i love the meaning of my name…God is gracious. back in 1926, my name was ranked 12th for popularity.
