Housing complex junk

During the summer my housing complex was relatively clean and quiet. That was because it was fairly deserted throughout that period of time. However, ever since the undergrads have moved in, living at my housing complex has taken a turn for the worse.

Below are the remnants of an impromptu drinking party held in the room next to me on Monday evening. Hidden are some clear glass bottles labelled 'Margaritas."


Remnants of neighbor's drunken carousing

People who are prone to imbibe too much alcohol tend to get very loud as they drink. I swear these people kept me up till 2:00 am in the morning the next day. I don't understand why they couldn't toss the bottles in a nearby garbage can, or stick them in the recycling bin, but maybe they were trying to display their prowess at quaffing guinness.

Ah well, they seem to be genuinely nice people, but there's something about college students and alcohol that turns them into completely different beasts.

Talk Like a Pirate Day ( + D's belated birthday) Celebrations

Today be the 10th anniversary of Talk Like a Pirate Day! In honor of this festive day, R and I set about adding a few piratical accents to the decor of the lab.

First, read this fine article for some background. Arrrrrrrr!

We had to stop by the UCSB Bookstore to buy black construction paper and a white pencils. The resulting door decorations are pictured below.


Talk Like a Pirate Day door decorations

We were supposed to get Captain Blood last weekend via Netflix in time for today, but the UCSB Post Office disappointed me again by saying it hadn't arrived yet. I saw other red Netflix envelopes in other people's P.O. boxes, so I wonder if they misfiled mine. Netflix has been accurate thus far as to predicting when the DVD's are supposed to arrive, so I think the problem is on the part of the Post Office.


Talk Like a Pirate Day goodies

Throughout the substitute movie we watched (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl), R decorated party hats with the Jolly Rogers of different pirates while I assembled them (with staples and string). Party goodies on a grad student budget!


Pirate hats, decorated by R

Singled out from all the piratey cupcakes to be D's birthday cupcake was a particularly large and fine specimen. I stuck 2 candles, one in each of the skull's eye sockets.


D's special birthday cupcake

Later D got out a lighter and lit the candles, rendering a devilish glow to the cupcakes.


D's lit cupcake, amid the others

Below we have D presiding over his chocolatey hearties sprawled drunkenly all over the table.


A pirate and his birthday cupcake

And next up, R in her conservative pirate regalia.


R and her paper pirate hat

Lastly, here's R digging into her bound and helpless prisoner.


R biting into her hapless prisoner

Hungry kitty

Even though cats and I have an innate dislike for each other, there's a cat on Sabado Tarde who always walks towards me early in the morning, meowing for food, I guess.


?Feral? Kitty looking for handouts

I always see it in the middle of the street, prowling around the area, so I thought it was a feral cat. But why would a feral cat require or expect a human to feed it?

The extent of our domesticity...Pirate cupcakes!

In celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day on Monday, September 19 (oh and also to belatedly celebrate D's birthday), R and I decided to place an order for Domino's pizza and bake cupcakes this afternoon. So I hied myself over to R's place via the Line 11 bus. We walked to the local Vons to buy cupcake mix, eggs, icing, candles, and soda, then walked back to R's place to commence baking.


Cupcake ingredients (excluding oil and water)

The cupcakes took about 21 minutes to bake at around 350 degrees F. While they were baking, R and I watched reruns of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. R and I had been channel flipping, as neither of us were accustomed to watching tv, so then when we happened upon this channel, we were both revolted yet strangely unable to change the channel.


Unfrosted cupcakes, awaiting frosting

I layered the chocolate frosting on the first batch of cooled cupcakes ...


Beginning the process of frosting the cupcakes

... and left the intricate skull and crossbones details to R. Both of us managed to smear chocolate frosting all over our hands.


R decorating with the skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger / Rusty Barnacle

We ended up with 24 cupcakes from the 1 box of chocolate cake mix. There was some frosting left over, but the amounts were almost exactly right to make 24 cupcakes. I guess the frosting, cake mix, cake decorations, and cupcake tins companies coordinate.


All 24 frosted cupcakes

Can you spy cupcake #1, the first cupcake R decorated? Hint: It's in the picture below.


Close up of frosted handiwork

Our next dilemma was how to transport these suckers to the lab, as R and I would either be busing or walking to lab the next day. We decided to stick them on plates. When we got into the Rusty Barnacle, I sat down with two plates on my lap and one on the seat between me and R.


Pirate cupcakes plated for transport

After walking across campus from the parking lot at UCSB, R and I safely made it to lab with not one chocolatey casualty. We stuck them into the violently pink plastic containers we had been using to store other food.


Pirate cupcakes stored in violently pink plastic container

D was in lab to help us arrange the pirate cupcakes in their temporary homes. Now their fate has passed from our hands into that of the lab. We sincerely hope nothing happens to tip the containers over.


Rest of the pirate cupcakes stored in lab

Cal beats the Fighting Illini, 35-20...

Alright, the game highlighted a very lackluster Cal offense in the first half. Cal was down 10 pts going into halftime, but as happens so often in the case of Cal football, Cal came back in the second half. Yay for UC Berkeley's win, 35-20, over Illinois.

Are cats social creatures?

I asked resident kitty expert, R, about how social cats are, seeing as how I kept on seeing a lot of housing posts asking for or advertising for cat-friendly rooms for rent with the caveat that no additional cats were allowed since the poster's kitty didn't like other cats. R said cats are in general not very social creatures, unlike most dogs.


Social cats: evil pic of feral cats being social

So, after getting up in the morning and walking around and seeing a group of 5-6 cats always congregating in the morning at the same place, I finally snapped a picture of some of them for R to comment on.


Social cats: brighter pic of feral cats being social

The problem was that the cats weren't being as social as they normally are, but I got at least 3 of them lying near each other.

Woohoo! Cal beat the Huskies (UW) 56-17!

It started out a stinker, but Cal's players recovered later in the first quarter. The Huskies seemed to implode in the fourth quarter. I've been there, watching Cal in the pre-Tedford-as-Head-Coach era, but now it's UC Berkeley's time to shine in the Pac-10.

Brunch at 陸羽 (Luyu) in Monterey Park

Before I took Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner back to UCSB Sunday morning, L, P, and L's mother and I went out for brunch at the Cantonese restaurant 陸羽 (Luyu). 陸羽 is a Cantonese restaurant that I consider high-quality Chinese fast-food that's been in the city for more than 15 years. When I say Chinese fast-food, I don't mean Panda Express, but rather a restaurant that quickly prepares typical authentic Chinese dishes on demand. The restaurant, located at 123 N. Garfield Ave., is in the same building as the Hawaiian Supermarket, near the intersection of Garfield and Garvey Ave.


陸羽: storefront, 123 N. Garfield Ave.

They have good deals all throughout the day. Since there were 4 of us, we got a special that offered a choice of 2 porridges and some sides, along with a special order of zhaliang and Singapore-style curry fried rice noodle.


陸羽: menu with info

There are handwritten specialties littering the walls. Figuring prominently on one wall was a soup made of a special chicken: 藥材烏雞湯. The chicken has white feathers, black skin, and black bones, which P says often freaks out unaccustomed Westerners who encounter it at meals. Chinese people believe that this particular chicken (and resulting "medicinal" soup) is good for females.


陸羽: handwritten specialties pasted on wall

First, the waiter set down plates of fried 油條 bits on our table. 油條 (youtiao) are deep-fried sticks of dough, puffed up by the addition of some powder. They were for adding to the porridge.


陸羽: 油條 - fried youtiao bits to add to porridge

Then came the 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pork and preserved duck egg porridge). The rice porridge is southern Chinese / Cantonese style, which means the rice grains are broken up, rather than left whole. This gives a smoother texture to the porridge, which I prefer to the more watery and lumpy 稀飯 (xifan). While porridge in Chinese cuisine is a very simple, hearty dish, 陸羽 executes it very well.


陸羽: 皮蛋瘦肉粥 - preserved duck egg and pork porridge

A steaming plate of 長粉, or stuffed rice noodle, appeared shortly thereafter. A ground pork filling nestled in the glutinous thick rice flour layers, with some soy sauce drizzled on top. It wasn't anything special, as I thought the filling rather plain and mealy, but it was one of the sides offered.


陸羽: 長粉 - changfen, stuffed rice noodle

The second porridge, 魚片粥, arrived at our table, and we dug in. It had tender morsels of cod fish sprinkled with green onions on top. When I eat it, I normally add some ground pepper. Rice porridge is generally bland, so it's expected that the diner add personal salty or spicy touches.


陸羽: 魚片粥 - cod fish porridge

A simple fried vegetarian noodle dish, the second side, was set upon our table. It was a bit greasy, but redolent of scallions and soy sauce, with crispy white bean sprouts providing a nice counterpoint to the ultra-thin golden noodles.


陸羽: fried rice noodle

One of the reasons we frequent 陸羽 is due to their 炸两 (zhaliang). It consists of a crispy 油條 wrapped in a layer of steamed rice noodle, then splashed with soy sauce. We always add 陸羽's housemade hot sauce, with its flecks of red pepper, all along the top. This dish is interesting because of the contrast between crispy, oily 油條 and chewy, bland, steamed rice noodle.


陸羽: 炸两 - zhaliang

After maybe a 10 minute lull in eating, the Singapore-style curry fried rice noodle finally made its appearance. There is only a hint of generic yellow curry flavor, but it is enough to bring the dish together. The rice noodle is still soft and moist after frying, and it is fried with bean sprouts, small shrimp, tiny chunks of barbecued pork, egg, and green onions.


陸羽: Singapore-style curry fried rice noodle

陸羽 offers authentic food at great prices, but it's not the kind of food one can eat every day as some of its specialties may be too greasy for the everyday palate. I heartily recommend 陸羽 for its porridges, and hidden in its extensive menu are some gems, such as its Singapore-style curry fried rice noodle.

Breakfast @ 丁胖子 (Ding Pangzi) in Monterey Park

P took L's mother and I out for a Northern Chinese breakfast at a nearby restaurant set in a square bordered by Garfield, Garvey, and Lincoln Ave.

We had tried to go to another restaurant for Northern Chinese-style food, but a big tour group of people from Taiwan had arrived at the restaurant after us and the waitresses tried to get us to wait until that group of 30 people had eaten or other customers had left before we could order. P was angry at the request so we ended up leaving. After driving to Alhambra, we found ourselves at 丁胖子, located at 117 N. Lincoln Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754 .


丁胖子: pigeon in restaurant

The restaurant has no air-conditioning, so with the doors open a pigeon walked through and started pecking at crumbs on the floor.

P ordered 燒餅, a sesame-topped bun, and fried 油條, which I've seen some menus refer to as Chinese crullers, though they are meant to be savory, rather than sweet. Cooks use a special powder to puff up the dough as it fries very quickly.


丁胖子: 燒餅 (shaobing), 油條 (youtiao) - baked sesame bun, fried Chinese crullers.

丁胖子 has the second best savory soybean porridge. To make it, you congeal hot soybean milk, and add preserved meat, bits of 油條, and other minced preserved vegetables. I always add some hot pepper oil to 丁胖子's version. Other restaurants skip on the additions to the congealed soybean milk, but not 丁胖子.


丁胖子: 鹹豆漿 (xian2 dou4jiang1) - savory soybean porridge

I ordered a soy-marinated pork wrap to share with the others. The version here includes plenty of salty thinly-sliced pork, with fresh bursts of taste from minced scallions and cilantro. Most restaurants, 丁胖子 included, spread a layer of a salty sweet fermented bean paste along the bread layer, which adds another flavor element to the dish.


丁胖子: soy-marinated pork wrap

Lastly, L's mother ordered 韮菜盒子. The version here seems to have a little bit of yeast or something added to the dough. The dough is a lot thicker than most versions I've had, and 丁胖子 adds egg to the chive filling. With a shot of vinegar, the 韮菜盒子 here is hot and filling.


丁胖子: 韮菜盒子 (jiucai hezi) - fried chive pie

UCSB Greenhouse and Garden Project (GHGP) -- Getting our own plot...

R and I have been trying to get a garden plot at the UCSB communal plot, known as the UCSB Greenhouse and Garden Project (GHGP), all summer long. Finally, one of the GHGP officers had free time to show us around and sign us up for a plot. What she stressed was that our plot must remain organic, with no plastic containers, or inorganic pesticides and fertilizers.


UCSB GHGP: Greenhouse entrance

Annual GHGP membership is $20, with a $10 deposit. Our GHGP officer, Rb, pointed out the two local feral cats, smokey (grey) and blondie (orange tabby), as well as the horse manure pile that we can use to fertilize our garden. I'm not sure how rich in nutrients horse manure is, since horses mostly eat hay.


UCSB Greenhouse and Garden Project (GHGP): R and Kitty

R and I were shown 2 garden plots by Rb, one that was small and shaded by a fruit tree, and another that was larger but completely overrun with weeds. We went for the larger plot, which seemed to have been abandoned for at least a year.


UCSB GHGP: Another feral cat

Later, after we secured our garden plot, R and I parted ways as I rushed off to the Amtrak station to go back to visit L and company.

UCSB Reflection Pool, near the UCen, and getting our own garden plot

Near the UCSB student center (UCEN) is a reflection pool complete with pond plants and koi fish. Since so many plants and structures break the smooth line of the water, I will henceforth refer to it as the UCSB fish pond.


UCSB fish pond: vegetation

R and I looked down into the pond and saw many of the same kind of small fish. But then a few bright orangey-gold fish that looked suspiciously like goldfish darted in and out. We theorize that some students liberated some gold fish by setting them free into the somewhat murky green waters of the UCSB fish pond.


UCSB fish pond: Illicit gold fish?

Six long koi fish swim around the pool. Two of them are mostly white, two of them are mostly bright orange, and two are darker ones which maybe we should term "carp" instead of koi since they aren't as decorative. Anyhoo one of the orange koi fish, the one with a smattering of black markings, has a crooked ?spine?.


UCSB fish pond: fish with crooked spine

It's hard to get a good picture of the crooked part of this koi fish, which R dubbed "Gimpy."


UCSB fish pond: closeup of fish with crooked spine

Since the fish pond/reflection pool is so close to the UCen and its food vendors, you can bet that the fish have become accustomed to people sitting along the rim of the pool throwing in food.


UCSB fish pond, Sep 1 2005: Gimpy another orangey koi

In fact, as R and I moved our hands closely to the water's surface, the koi/carp would swarm near where our finger tips were. In the below image, you can see how those lazy bums are looking for a handout.


UCSB fish pond: Carp looking for handouts