Should I start a comic?

Whoo! Site is almost done! All that is left is putting up my ETC projects (of course, I leave out the most important work from my portfolio site upgrade) and changing the UI of this blog to match that of my website.

If you want to check out what's been done, please look at www.tingchen.net. :-)

My contract at EA ends in January 2011. :-( It's a bit of a bummer b/c I really love my teammates here, but I guess the time to move on always comes. In either case, I'm currently on the hunt for my next job, looking in areas like LA, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco. The nice thing about being single and fresh from college is that moving around is really only a matter of furniture and lease agreements. I kind of like the adventure in switching homes and being able to pick up and leave so quickly. Kind of. Part of me wants to find a place to set up camp for longer than 6 months, which is probably why my latest apartment, I've bought some of the more frivolous items, like a a digital piano :D, even though I don't know if I am going to be staying here past December. Still, I suppose the moving is somewhat feeding the travel bug in me at least.

With all this focus on work and finding more work and then finding living space and etc etc... I've completely neglected the hobbies which I used to love back in college (undergrad. During my Art School days). It's good that my biggest passion, games, has become my career, but being a constant thinker, I get restless not having personal projects to do. I'm thinking about getting back in to drawing comics. Or do some indie game development on my own. I'm not sure yet. They both seem fun and rewarding, but also incredibly time-consuming and requiring dedication, 2 things which I can't guarantee at this moment.

Another personal question: Why is it all my interests involve being alone? I should be more social, I think. I mean, I'm living in the SF Bay Area and I rarely go to the city. Or even out in general. Either too busy or too tired. :\

Beef Bourguignon

I hear so many people talk about this dish, especially since the film "Julie & Julia" and Julia Child's beef bourguignon recipe. I only had this dish once in my life, and I remembered not thinking it was all that great, but I wanted to give it a go myself in case that one time was caused by a cooking slip-up.

Beef bourguignon has a lot of precise steps and takes many hours, although not all recipes agree on these details. But I was lazy and considering much of the cooking time is just sitting in a pot and simmering, I didn't see why people didn't use a slow cooker on this dish.

So I cooked the bacon to get the fat, seared the beef in the fat, then stuck everything and a whole bottle of wine in the slow cooker.



The stew came out more soupy than I would have hoped, but I don't think that has anything to do with my method of cooking. Perhaps I put too much liquid in the pot? In either case, it was absolutely delicious. The wine flavor worked really well with the bay leaves, thyme, and parsley and everything blended together into a really awesome taste. So even though it didn't come out in to a creamy stew like it should have, it came out very well, I think.

- ^_^

Redwood Forest

I've been meaning to walk in a redwood forest ever since I moved up to the SF Bay Area and today I decided on impulse would be the day I went. So I typed in Google "Redwood forest", picked the closest one, and went.

The closest redwood forest to go to was Huddart Park. To be honest, it was kind of dull and uneventful.



While the trees were pretty, I felt kind of bored walking on the trails. Nothing really led anywhere and all the paths just sort of wound around the area. I would have enjoyed the scenery more if I wasn't always looking on the ground for horse manure and getting nervous about the bugs or my footing on the dirt and rocks. I kind of wished there was some sort of destination to reach, like a temple or a vantage point. But this is America and I don't think we have temples atop mountains, although I did see this giant white cross in the distance when I drove to the park. Also, I think this park's trails were more for horseback riding than foot travel, despite what the brochure said. Perhaps I picked the wrong park. I mean, whoever heard of having to PAY to go to the park? There was a $5 per car fee to enter the park.

- ^_^

Affogato

I'm Meeting Becky today for dinner, which is a rare moment considering she lives all the way in Las Vegas. I am so glad we were able to make a dinner meet-up work out while she was here for the weekend.

I left my apartment early to accommodate for the long train ride getting to the city and the walk/bus ride of getting to the restaurant (The Stinking Rose, a garlic restaurant), but then as I exited the door, I impulsively decided to drive. Now that I'm here, I almost wish I hasn't acted so impulsively as this will cost me double what traveling would have coated otherwise. And I arrived really early. -_-"

In the meantime, I decided to stop in this cafe I randomly found called Cafe Greco. And decided to try this lovely concoction: an affogato, which was another impulsive item of the day.






I had only heard of affogato from Kitchen Confidential. As I have now learned, affogato is an espresso with gelato. So if you like coffee ice cream, this would be the more decadent version. It's wonderful.

I sometimes wonder if I could live in the city and I still don't know the answer. The hustle and bustle of so many people makes the place so lively but at the same time, a bit too chaotic for me. I am not one for crowds.

But a good thing about San Francisco and cities in general is places like these where you can just order a drink and take a seat outside.

Cafe Greco is in North Beach, which is where Little Italy and Chinatown border each other.

- ^_^