lianna

My spam has been pretty mundane lately until I received this...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:51:31 -0700

My spam has been pretty mundane lately until I received this gem! The subject line is far more creative, attention grabbing, and compelling than the others.

Yum!

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:50:31 -0700

Yum!

cookie

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:14:47 -0700

I bought the most amazing cookie today. It’s an everything cookie which contains coconut, macadamia nuts, and chocolate chips. It’s so amazing, gooey, and oily. Unfortunately, I’m too stressed out to eat the damn thing. I’m breaking my own heart!

I made my bed for the first time in two months and it is lovely.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:29:00 -0700

I made my bed for the first time in two months and it is lovely.

Joey is so excited to see Whitney of The City!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:26:21 -0600

Joey is so excited to see Whitney of The City!

the bestest purchase of 2009

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:01:30 -0600

I just bought buymylifestory.com. BOOYAH!

Lianna on a toilet.

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:24:14 -0600

Lianna on a toilet.

Why school makes me sad.

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:44:40 -0600

William Safire died a few days ago and I didn’t find out till today. I was an avid reader of On Language. I shouldn’t be mad at school, but I am.

in LA

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:52:37 -0600

I’ve officially moved to LA. I still can’t believe I live here because it feels like a really long vacation. In an effort to integrate myself into the LA culture, I’ve taken a number of steps to get myself well situated in my new life.

I bought a car. I was really bummed about this because the responsibility of having a car is overwhelming, but I get kind of excited when I think about the road trips I’ll be taking over the next couple years.
I bought a bunch of camping gear. I was REALLY excited about my massive purchase at REI. I didn’t realize how easy it is to go camping here until I actually did it. I’m hooked.
I played beach volleyball. I told myself that I have to take up one warm weather and one cold weather sport while I’m in CA. I’ve decided that beach volleyball and snowboarding will be those sports, and I’m pleased with my decision.
I eat a lot of salads. It was a nightmare trying to find a decent salad in Boston/Cambridge, but it’s so easy here! Two words: cheap avocados. Nuff said.
I drink two liters of water everyday. Actually, this wasn’t an active choice. It’s so goddamn hot and dry here, you have to drink about two liters to not feel like crap.

What Should Colleges Teach?

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:21:21 -0600

What Should Colleges Teach?:

I completely agree with you, Stanley Fish. Also, read part II. (both @ The NYT)

Malacca

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:36:45 -0600

Malacca is about 2 hours from KL and I would write more about it, but I’m so far behind in my blogging that I’ll leave you with the link to the Wikipedia entry if you wish to learn more: Malacca. Sonny and I drove there with his friend so we could check out some antiques stores and eat chicken rice balls (two things Malacca is known for). The antiques were not that great, but the rice balls were DELICIOUS!

Here are a few pictorial highlights of the day:

We visited a couple temples. They were beautiful. My favorite part was leaving with the scent of sandlewood in my clothes and hair.

We passed by a cobbler who still makes tiny bound feet shoes. Bound feet are absolutely horrifying, but the shoes are amazing.

We ate cendol for dessert and Sonny insisted that I take a picture of the shop. He said, “You have to take a picture of this! This is so Malaysia. You’re eating Cendol in a dirty shop with a typewriter and a broken pot.”

Sonny LOVES sticky rice and kuih. This tray was full of both items, but we weren’t sure what was which so he insisted on opening one of each. Sonny was out of control.

Very neat antique shop! The houses in Malacca are super narrow and long. All the light comes from the front and back windows of the house and huge cutouts in the middle of the house that go right to the ground floor.

100 Plus is an isotonic sports drink/soda. I can’t describe it, but it’s pretty good.

This was one of the highlights of the trip. Sonny bought some bird’s nests which are used for medicinal purposes usually in the form of soup. It has the consistancy of crunchy gelatin after you cook it. The nest is made from the spit of Swiflets and is considered a very expensive delicacy in Asia.

the most EPIC meal ever.

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:29:08 -0600

This particular meal was so EPIC it deserves its own post. Since arriving in KL, my family has made it a point to feed me endless amounts of food while wagging a finger at me saying, “You must try everything, girl!”. I’m not easily overcome by large quantities of food, but I’m on the verge of being broken. Anyway, Sonny took me (along with friends and family) to eat steamboat (aka Shabu Shabu) one night. Typically, the steamboat meals I’ve enjoyed in America have been pretty tame consisting of dainty plates filled with nicely chopped and sliced veggies and meats for a rather steep price ($20/person). The steamboat meal Sonny took me to was OUT OF CONTROL. It was all you can eat for the mere price of 18 ringgit which is about $5. You pile plates with meats, seafood, veggies, tofu, noodles, etc. which are contained in huge refrigerators and tables. There are no less that 8 sauces to accompany your meal and you end your epic feast with watermelon, pandan cake, and an ice kacang bar. Because my family is super hardcore, we had two huge pots of soup heated by propane tanks sitting under the table (surely that would have been some safety violation in America). Sonny, determined to get the most out of his meal, consumed what looked like 4 lbs of food. He shamelessly ripped crabs apart with his bare hands, attentively stirred the steamboat with the intensity of a chef, and vigorously wiped his hands with the table cloth declaring that a mere tissue would not suffice. Right when I was about to throw in the towel, Sonny brought over a bowl of ice kacang he made for me and nudged me towards the ice cream freezer. I was broken.

This is the picture post.

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:43:00 -0600

Even though this is the first time I’ve been back to Malaysia in over a decade, everything is still so familiar and some of the people still remember me (!). My Auntie Suzanne still uses the same taxi driver to come pick us up from the family house. His taxi still has the same wonderful scent of worn, but clean seat cushions, car air fresheners, and a little humidity mixed with air conditioning. He remembered the time he drove my cousin and I to Sunway Lagoon which is this cheesy water park in the city. Crazy! Anyway, here are some pictures I took of day 3.

After Sonny and I walked around the neighborhood, I cooled off my feet in the pool and watched the sunrise. You can’t tell from this picture, but the sun looks like a HUGE grapefruit chillin’ in the sky. It’s quite nice.

Sonny and I went to one of his favorite breakfast places in town and he insisted on ordering Char Keow Teow with a side of fish balls. Fried noodles is a heavy breakfast, but it doesn’t feel that bad and you work/sweat it off within a couple hours. My dad was worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle the heat so he asked for the non-spicy version. Come on, dad! Obviously, he’s unaware of my obsession with Sriracha. For dessert, we ate Kuih which are these gooey, jiggly desserts. The one on the left has a layer of salty, coconut flavored goo on top of a layer of sweet green goo made from pandan leaves. Sonny greatly enjoys the one on the left, but he prefers desserts that incorporate red bean.

We spent the day with Sonny’s best friend from the good ol’ days. That’s Sonny on the left. They’ve been best friends since age 6! They spent the day lying to me about stuff and telling stories about how they camped out on the beach when they were kids and killed cobras that slept under their backpacks.

Then we went to Petaling Street which is the main drag in Chinatown. It didn’t always look like this. Back in the day, it was very dirty, a little hazy, and didn’t have that fancy covering. Thankfully, a lot of the old haunts are still there.

My aunts buy all their herbal medicines here. You can’t tell from the picture, but this store sells all sorts of crazy stuff like dried seahorses for improved eyesight, edible pearls for a more youthful complexion, and all sorts of dried barks for general health. Back in the day, they would give me little packets of Goji berries to eat while I waited.

Kim’s Soya Bean is the BEST. Every time I went to Petaling Street which was at least 3-4 times a week, my aunts would buy me a big ol’ bag of soybean milk sweetened with brown sugar syrup. He now serves soy milk in a plastic cup, but he’ll give it to you in a bag if you’re on the run. This business has been in his family for three generations.

My family has been going to this flower shop for years and years and years. When my aunts got tired of lugging me around Chinatown, they would deposit me here with a bag of soybean milk and their many purchases so they could finish running their errands.

This is the temple Sonny used to visit with his mom. This was the first time I went with my dad. My aunts usually take me. One of the best part of Malaysia is that there are Buddhist temples scattered around the city. They are absolutely beautiful and have this incredibly rich and intense smell from all the incenses. The combination of the humidity, heat and scents creates this hazy environment which feels very spiritually and calming. It’s quite relaxing stopping at one of these temples to pray and meditate during the hottest parts of the day.

Then we went to Central Market which is basically a huge craft market and major tourist destination. Central Market wasn’t that much fun, and I felt tired and overwhelmed by all the shops, but I did visit the jewelery store I got my ears pierced at when I was a little girl. The best part was that the woman who did the deed still works there and remembered me!

Lunch time! According to Sonny, this place has the best beef balls in the city, and I think he’s right. It’s very important to get the beef balls separate from the noodles which have their own beef gravy so as to not mix the flavors. I take all my meals with sweetened barley water. Sonny takes his without sugar.

We were all tired after our walk through Chinatown so we decided to go home, but we couldn’t end the day without a big bowl if ice kacang (aka ABC). So we drove to the old part of PJ (Petaling Jaya) to get our ABC fix. Ice kacang can be prepared in a lot of different ways with different ingredients. Basically, it’s shaved ice with brown sugar syrup and evaporated milk on top of a mixture of various jellies, peanuts, red beans, and sometimes, fruits. Sonny watches his diet and shows great restraint around desserts, but he can’t hold back when you put a bowl of ABC in front of him.

I'll have pictures soon.

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:13:59 -0600

The only reason I haven’t posted any pictures is because I’ve been lazy about taking my camera around with me. Sonny is going to take me on an intermediate level walk in a few minutes so I’ll post something longer later.

Day 1: Sonny and Lianna have major jetlag.

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:10:00 -0600

I woke up at 7am to walk around the neighborhood with Sonny. My dad is a champion walker, and I’m an expert stroller so while my dad charged around with excellent enthusiasm for such an early hour (partly due to jetlag), I took my time to take in the sights, particularly the large mansions which are a perfect example of the country’s misguided understanding of luxury.

Wealth and class are often associated with gaudy European interior design so it’s not so surprising to find houses decorated as if Versaille had a yard sale. However, the heavy, suffocating imperial French style conflicts with the climate and functional needs of the house. The blistering heat and 200% humidity cannot be good for silk brocade couches. Thankfully, my family has decent taste and we’ve stuck with classic wooden chinese furniture with the occasional cushion to prevent numb butt.

Top 3 notable observations:

Motorcyclists wear their jackets on their fronts to protect themselves from the heat while zipping through the city at break neck speeds. I’m familiar with wind chaffing in the winter, but heat chaffing?
The fresh water prawns are the size of lobsters. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but they are pretty big.
New Jersey’s biggest rival in terms of # of malls per square mile is Kuala Lumpur.

The trip took 20 hours.

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:00:39 -0600

I’m not big on super luxurious experiences since they tend to make me feel uncomfortable rather than pampered. However, flying business class on Cathay Pacific for a 15 hour flight is life changing especially for someone who hates flying. It’s kind of like the iPhone. Once you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to go back. The sad reality is that I’m in no position to afford business class and the fact that my dad and I were upgraded was a combination of pure luck and his frequent flying to Malaysia. I watched five movies in a completely horizontal position (just because I could) while munching on cheese, fruit, and ice cream in the comfort of my own “cubicle.” Sonny ate breakfast (again) and immediately went to sleep after wrapping himself up like a burrito. He really enjoyed himself.

Top 3 notable observations:
- There lounges all over the Hong Kong airport where you can take a shower and get a massage. Brilliant idea!
- You drive on the left side of the road in Malaysia. My dad is going to make me drive at some point which is going to be a real adventure since I’m very dedicated to the right side.
- There was a lot of pointing with blanks stares at the Hong Kong airport which for some reason, I loved. It reminded me of efficiency.

Sonny and Lianna’s Asia Tour 2009! It’s off to a...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:52:00 -0600

Sonny and Lianna’s Asia Tour 2009! It’s off to a GREAT start. We were upgraded to business class and now we’re chillin’ in this swanky lounge stocked with free munchies including a full bar. Sonny is loving it! He promptly called my mom to let her know that we were upgraded and that he ate 2 blueberry muffins, 1 croissant, 1 bowl of cereal, and 2 cups of coffee.

Crame brûlée!

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:01:35 -0600

Crame brûlée!

Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you.

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:48:04 -0600

Getting to know Tumbloggers.

Reblog/ Fill this out so people know who you are.

Name: Lianna

Nickname: Llama or Lima Bean or Liama

Tumblr Name: Lianna. I don’t know how I managed to get lianna.tumblr.com, but I did and I’m keepin’ it!

Age: 25

Birthday: 8.12

Location: Cambridge, MA, but soon to be Los Angeles, CA.

Current school/job: Soon to be unemployed and then a student come September.

High school: One in the garden state.

Status: Combination of single, sleepy, and hungry.

Hobbies/Interests: Pie baking, t-shirt printing, leisure biking, book reading, ice cream devouring, and hopefully, tennis playing soon.

Random fact about you: My right arm is much darker than my left arm. Some times it is referred to as the Evil Arm.

Do you smoke/drink: No/No because of the throat cancer and all.

Favorite Tumblr bloggers: stepliana and rosefromthedead. I expect Step and Rose to congregate content I want to read from other people’s blogs because I’m lazy.

Why Tumblr?: Because it’s easy, and I’m slow.

Getting back into it.

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:29:35 -0600

It’s been a while. I know. I’m going to give this another try.