Lava

David is here and we went to the big island! Here are some video's and pictures! 
Lava 1 from Anna on Vimeo.



Lava 2 from Anna on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoy these!! I will write about it later!

Have a great Sunday!

Gum...

Sorry I have had writers block and I just can't seem to get the pumpkin story just right.

As I was waiting for my class to begin online, I was reading health articles on AOL. Don't ask me why. I haven't had cable all week and this is what my life has resorted to. I found an article entitled, "Improve Your Memory." I have the worst memory. I remember when I was younger walking upstairs and forgetting what I was going to do by the time I go to the top of the stairs. Just this week, I was on the phone with my mom and we were discussing how I needed to do something for school. We discussed a few other things after that and at the end of the conversation she mentioned school again. I had completely forgotten we had discussed this earlier on in the telephone call. Needless to say when I saw this article, I knew I should read it.

When I was in 7th grade in my 7th period, last class of the day, I had history. Who put's an important class subject at the end of the day for 7th graders? There were two teachers that taught history 7th period. A football coach and an older woman. Why couldn't I have gotten the football coach? Anyways, my teacher and I didn't see eye to eye on a certain subject. That subject would be gum. I loved chewing gum. I didn't smack my gum. I didn't put my gum under my desk. I was a respectable gum chewer. However my teacher (I can't remember her name.. I think it started with a H) didn't agree. Everyday we would go through the same thing.

"Anna, do you have have something in your mouth?" - Mystery teacher H
"Yes ma'am" - me
"Don't you think you should get rid of it?" - Mystery teacher H
"I just put it in my mouth and it still has all of its flavor. Can I please wait a little longer?" - me
"Anna, spit out your gum."- Mystery teacher H

I guess I missed her 'this is my last warning' because one day, out of the blue, she made me stay after school and scrap gum off the bottom of the desk. I explained to her that I didn't put my gum on the bottom of the desk, but she wasn't fond on reasoning with anybody.

This brings me back to today. This is a segment from the article.


Chew Gum
And to think most teachers made us spit out our gum during class. Research conducted by the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston shows that chewing gum can improve alertness. Teenagers who chomped away for 14 weeks during math class and while doing math homework scored higher on tests and in their final grades compared to the teens who weren't given gum. A similar study conducted a few years ago at the University of Northumbria in Newscastle found that people who chewed gum during long-term and short-term memory tests scored better than nonchewers. While experts haven't pinpointed the link between chewing gum and memory, Japanese researchers believe it may stem from an increased heart rate (thanks to the chewing) that leads to extra oxygen being delivered to the brain.

Maybe I would have remembered my teacher's name if she had let me chew my gum...

Halloween...

Halloween was never been a big deal growing up. I don't enjoy being scared or seeing people in scary costumes. However, Halloween in Hawaii is a HUGE ordeal. People started asking me in May what I was going to be for Halloween. My response, "You do realize Halloween is not until October, so I haven't even thought about it." People always want to do group costumes and like to plan in advance. I am not much of a planner for Halloween and I like to do last minute costumes, but somehow I always end up agreeing to be apart of a group... that is until I change my mind last minute.

For example: Last year I was suppose to be Peter Pan. Day of Halloween I didn't like that costume idea anymore, so I decided to be a grape instead.

I was a green grape

This year I was supposed to be the Witch from The Wizard of Oz. I never liked The Wizard of Oz. However, I changed my mind a day before Halloween. My friends and I decided to be a basketball team. 

Can you tell which one I am?

Halloween is so big here that they close down the streets to Waikiki. It's insane. You can't walk in anywhere due to the insane amount of people. 

Besides dressing up for Halloween, there is (correction: was) another part of Halloween that I enjoyed. I loved carving pumpkins. Do you know why people carve pumpkins in the Fall weather and not Summer weather? Coming from the land of endless summer weather I do... 

Pumpkin story tomorrow.

The Twilight Zone...

The first time (out of two times) I ever got grounded was when I was 13 years old. It wasn't even my fault. I had gone to Movie Gallery with my dad and sister. While at Movie Gallery, we found a movie that 3 out of our 4 family members would approve to watch. I was finally 13 years old and could watch more 'intense' movies. My dad agreed that I was old enough, so we rented it and went home. I went running into the kitchen to show my mom the movie that we rented (even though she wouldn't watch it) because I was so excited. It would be my first 'scary' movie, "The Haunting." My mom wasn't extremely thrilled and responded with something along the lines of how I wasn't going to watch that because I wasn't old enough. Obviously, I disagreed and explained to her how dad had already approved of allowing me to watch the movie. (My dad was in the kitchen during this conversation, but somehow I don't remember anything he said in this conversation) Instead of my mom getting mad at my dad, which would be the obvious choice since he approved it, I ended up getting the short end of the stick. My mom ended up grounding me for bringing the movie home. Nevertheless, I ended up watching the movie and I refuse to watch it again. I don't remember a lot about the movie, but I do remember be freaked out by the main girl character. She just looks scary. After that movie, I have come to terms that I don't like scary movies.

My dad and sister love Alfred Hitchcock movies. I remember watching "The Birds." Every time I saw a huge group of birds in a tree or on the power lines I was always afraid they were going to come and attack me.

My dad used to watch "The Twilight Zone" when I was in middle school and high school. I would watch some of them with him every now and then. They were old shows, so how scary could they get? Until one fatal night a doll came to life and started killing people. NEVER. AGAIN. I don't even like to hear the music to beginning of the show.

This all brings me back to last night. I had turned off my bedside table lamp and stayed up doing some homework on my computer. Shortly after I decided to go to sleep and turned off my computer. I had been laying in bed for about 10 minutes when I was suddenly startled. I sleep facing the wall and I was almost asleep when a bright light came from no where. I knew it wasn't morning and I was thoroughly confused. I turned around and my bedside table lamp was on. I freaked out.

This is not the first time this has happened. Last time, I woke up the next morning and the light was on. I told everyone about that situation, but they said that I must had just left it on. I knew I didn't leave it on.

Of course I couldn't go back to sleep because I was scared. I turned the TV on and an infomercial smoothed me to sleep.

How does my light get back on?

I swear I feel like I live in the twilight zone...

18 or older...

I remember when my sister couldn't wait to turn 18 years old and she couldn't wait to go to college. I remember her saying, "6 more months, I will be 18 and I will off to college." "2 more months I will be 18 and I will be off to college." I remember being excited about turning 18, but it wasn't necessarily about leaving to go to college.

Turning 18 meant that I could finally purchase things off infomercials!!! I love infomercials!

I remember when I was in high school or middle school and waking up early (10:00 am) to watch infomercials. I would watch the whole infomercial and try to convince my parents that we really needed it! They never caved in, but I would tell them, "Just wait until I am 18 and I am going to buy all these things!"

Well, last night I could not fall asleep, so I turned on the TV and one of my favorite infomercials was on! Miracle Blade with Chef Tony! It is the infomercial that sell the knives that can cut through anything! They can cut through a coke can, a frozen turkey, cut shavings off the hammer head, then cut a tomato without making it mushy, and then slice through a watermelon/ pineapple with one cut! These knives are awesome, plus they never need to be sharpened! Then at the end of the infomercial they tell you all of the things that you get with the knives! It is like a $300 value for 1 easy payment of $39.99. You can't beat that type of deal..

On of my all time favorites was called 'Liquid Leather Repair Kit.' Do you remember this? It is where you can rip your leather chair and then put the same color paint on it and it repairs it like it is brand new! I wanted this one soooooo bad! My dad has a leather chair in our living room and I always wanted to make a tiny cut in it and then repair it with Liquid Leather to see if it really worked!!

HOW does this work??? Isn't amazing!

Here are a couple of my favorites:

The clapper. How cool would it be to lay in bed and clap the lights on and off?!

Spray on Hair: If only I knew someone bald that would let me spray this on their head...

Nu-wave Oven: You could cook anything in this oven and the fat drips to the bottom. So technically its a healthy investment..

I love infomercials because they always add something in on the very end of the commercial just to close the deal and you can't beat a good deal...

Goof Proof...

When I was unpacking my bags last week (even though I had arrived a week before that), I was putting my jewelry up and I noticed that one part of an earring had come off. Traveling half way around the world has it's up and downs and unfortunately the jewelry always gets the short end of the stick. Never the less, this does not mean that I throw away my jewelry. I can always find a way to fix it.

My sophomore year of college I constantly wore pearl earrings. One day I dropped my pearl earrings and the pearl came loose from the ear piece. I was devastated and wanted my earring to be fixed. Well as a sophomore in college, my brilliant mind decided to fix my earring with superglue. Why not go buy another pair? Why not take it some place to get fixed? Those thoughts didn't enter my mind at the time.  I went to Walmart and after looking at the different brands I saw the perfect one, "Goof Proof Super Glue". I was hooked. I thought 'this super glue was made for me.' (I have never been known as the graceful type, I am more along the lines of clumsy.) I took my handy goof proof super glue and set off back towards the dorms.

Goof Proof Definition: proof against human misuse or error.

Sitting at my desk, holding the goof proof super glue confidently in one hand and the earring piece in other, I set off to mend my beloved earring. Looking back, I am not sure if I read the directions or not, but if it is called 'goof proof' how could I mess up? I put the glue on the earring piece and put the pearl on it. I held the pieces together with both hands to make sure the pearl stayed. Except one tiny problem had occurred. Glue had gotten on both of my thumbs and index fingers. Both of my hands were glued to the earring. Panicking like any normal person in the situation would, I struggled to get my fingers off of the earring. It wasn't happening. I was able to get my right hand index finger and thumb free, but not without leaving some of my top layer of skin on the earring. After that, I sought out to find my friends for help. We were able to get the earring loose from left hand and I thought I was in the clear. Incredibly enough, I was explaining to my friend how I got my fingers glue to the earring and can you guess what happens? I was showing her what happened (without the earring) and when I touched my fingers together they wouldn't come apart.

Why do these things happen to me?

Nail polish remover, a Q-tip, and 30 minutes later my fingers came apart. I should have gotten my money back for false advertisement of 'Goof Proof.' Strangely enough this was not my last time of gluing my fingers/object together except they were never as bad as this incident. I always think I have to hold on to the object to make it stay until the glue dries, like you do with other glue. Over the years I have learned all you have to do is place the object on the super glue.

This brings me back to tonight and my earring. I was super gluing my earring back together and I almost made the fatal mistake again... but at least my earring is fixed.

Steak Salad...

After a nice relaxing visit home, I returned back to Hawaii to a gecko free and food-less apartment. I turned to my favorite and only cooking website The Pioneer Woman to look for new recipes. I found a new recipe, Big Steak Salad, and was dying to try it! I love steak salads!

I went to the grocery store and as I walking through the meat section looking for steak, I began to think about how far I had come from when I had first moved to Hawaii. Before I had moved to Hawaii, the only time I had been to the meat section was when I was following my parents or boyfriend through the grocery store. I never paid attention to what they were picking up. I had never touched a raw piece of chicken. I had never touched raw steak. I had never bought anything other than potatoes in the produce section. I had never seen half of the stuff that they sell in the produce section.

I remember when I first moved to Hawaii and my first experience at the grocery store by myself. I remember walking into the meat section and not having a clue of what to buy. Ground Beef, Ground Round, Ground Chuck. Why are there so many options? What is the difference in those anyway? I remember calling my dad and asking him what I should buy. However, even today, I can't ever remember what he told me once I get to the meat section, so I just buy whatever looks the most interesting. I just bought meat the other day and I honestly have no idea what I bought. Now that I think of it, maybe not that much as changed...

Anyways, back to my steak salad. I was excited because I was going to try to make everything myself from fresh ingredients. I was going to use fresh garlic, fresh ginger, make onion strings, and make candied walnuts. I had never bought a steak and didn't write down what kind of steak I was supposed to buy. I ended up buying a sirloin (I think) because that sounded familiar. I bought walnuts instead of pecans, because I thought the recipe said walnuts and pecans aren't my favorite (sorry grandpa).

I had never used fresh garlic or ginger, so I looked up how to cut them. However, my ginger never made it from the grocery store to my kitchen, thankfully I had a jar of ginger in my fridge. In recipes I always see use 'three garlic cloves' well I didn't know there was a difference in a garlic clove and garlic bulb. Thankfully, there is google that saved me from an extremely garlicky meal. I made my dressing/marinade and was ready for my meat. I sent this text to my parents:

"EEK this is scary..."

As I was cutting the fat off, I thought about how I would had never done this if I hadn't moved here. I felt like a grown up. As my steak was marinating, I decided to move onto the candied walnuts.

Candied Walnuts:

I had never 'candied' anything before. I had watched cake shows, so I new cooking sugar could burn you easily, but that's about it. I added the sugar and water to my pan and waited for it to become the 'almond' color it was supposed to be when it was ready. I waited and waited. It was just a clump of wet sugar in my pan. I decided to add more water and kick up the heat. That did the trick. As the sugar started melting, I was thinking about whoever invented non-stick pans is a genius. However, I had wished my spoon was non -stick. Do they make those? (If not, I am patenting it now, so all you readers don't steal my idea.) I kept stirring while enjoying my non-stick pan, but the 'almond' color wasn't happening. So... I turned up the heat more. My sugar started to turn a very light brown color and I was pleased with myself. Suddenly, the almond color came and went quickly. 

It happened within a matter of seconds. 

I went from a pastel brown, to smoke billowing from my pan with my dark/black sugar. I quickly took it off the stove to pour on my walnuts. However, more smoke just kept billowing from my pan. (Did I mention I do not have a vent or fan for my stove... another 'living in the dark ages' moment) I had a little sugar left in my pan and had no where to put it. I turned on my hot water for the sink and went to pour it down the drain. (I know if you are going to pour grease down the drain, you have to have the hot water running. Wouldn't you think that would be the same for hot sugar?) I made sure when pouring the sugar that it went straight to into the drain. Next thing I know, I heard a loud noise and smoke started rising from my drain. Water and sugar were flying everywhere. Oh crap... did I just make something explode? Can you break a sink? If you can, I think I just did. 

I didn't know what to do.. I turned around and realized I couldn't see the other side of my apartment from all the smoke in my apartment. Wafting the air as I walked to other side of my apartment, I turned on my portable van.. but where was the smoke going to go? I had my window open, but did I want to open my door? If I opened my door there was a chance a gecko could get in. Pandering the thought I decided to open my door, but watch it closely for geckos. I left the door open for maybe 2 minutes and decided I could deal with the smoke. By the way, it took about 3 hours for all the smoke to get out, but at least I don't have a gecko... I think. 

I cooked everything else without a hitch. I went to set my plate and it was time to add those dang candied walnuts. However, I missed the part in the directions where it said, "Make sure to spread the nuts around quickly before they set in the sugar." I went to my candied walnuts and it was just one big piece of candied walnuts that I couldn't get to.

The dreaded candied walnuts

I stabbed it with a knife a couple of times and I was able to chip off a few walnuts. You know what, I didn't like them. They tasted horrible probably because I burned the sugar and it got stuck in my teeth. Needless to say, I will never 'candy' anything again.

Past the candied walnut incident, the steak salad was great. 

Final product

My last words of advice... don't pour hot sugar down your sink...