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Wizarding World of Harry Potter | Universal Studios Hollywood

By Tina - April 18, 2016

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opinion

Rachel Platten concert

By Tina - April 07, 2016

I bought a pair of tickets to the Wildfire Tour for the last showing in Los Angeles (and the last concert of the tour). I went with one of my best friends. She is a big fan of Rachel Platten.

I actually didn't know any of Rachel Platten's music besides her radio hit- I bought the tickets because Eric Hutchinson was opening and he is wonderful.

The concert venue was at the historic El Rey Theater. The converted theater provided a nice and intimate setting, but it was still spacious enough to not have to worry about being stepped on (the concert was a sold out show so there were many, many people present). The art deco building stood out on the street thanks to the bright neon lights framing the marquee.

Bad photo of the venue (1)

Bad photo of the venue (2)

The concert started promptly at 8 pm. The first opener was an indie pop duo band called Hunter Hunted. The pair were okay live. The band harmonized really well, but they weren't very musical when it came to ..anything else. I think the two wore themselves too thin. The mastery of the instruments was lacking simply because they tried to play too many different things at once. After the concert, I looked them up and their songs aren't so bad studio form.

Bad photo of Hunter Hunted

Hunter Hunted played maybe 5 songs? The following two were the most memorable for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HrUTF5rv4E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX77X5oYGkA

After Hunter Hunted, Eric Hutchinson &The Believers brought the excitement for the night up, like waaay up.

Eric Hutchinson wore a smart and snazzy suit and kinda looked like a young Barry Manilow (in my opinion). My friend said he looked like Ryan Gosling (that's probably a bit more flattering). But his appearance doesn't matter- Eric Hutchinson's voice was incredible. The vocal runs he did during the show were a m a z i n g.

Bad photo of E.H. (1)

Bad photo of E.H. (2)

Bad photo of E.H. (3)

Some of my favorites of his from the concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM0qzSAxrCM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoE1zn1nVr4

After Eric Hutchinson, Rachel Platten and her team took the stage. She had a quick guest appearance from the YouTube guy who played the keyboard while Rachel Platten sang (his accompaniment on the piano took my breath away... it wasn't like the melody was difficult to play, but it was just so pretty...).

Rachel Platten had tons of energy. She is also super cheesy. Her proclamations of love and hope and catching miracles with butterfly nets and all that angel imagery normally would make me uncomfortable since that sort of stuff is so ...blechh. But she was super genuine and sincere about it, I couldn't help but be a little moved and inspired.

Overall I think she is a pretty good singer. I didn't like how high pitched her voice was though. She sounded nothing like her voice on the radio. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone told me she inhaled a liter's (22.4 moles at STP) worth of helium before the concert. I finally got used to her voice after maybe five songs. But it still sounded a little off putting. My friend speculated that her voice just wasn't doing so hot after having so many shows, which makes sense.

Bad photo of Rachel Platten... also she is SO PRETTY. I showed my photos to a friend saying that I was at her concert and his exact words were, "Err. Why is she wearing so little?" and I was like "...What?"

Besides the famous Fight Song, my favorite song of hers is probably this one.

Anyway, my friend and I had a very fun night. It's such a shame I can't take any good photos. People around me with their fancy phones took some very lovely photographs...

IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiGmfv_8_3LAhVHyWMKHYdoCwoQjxwIAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.josepvinaixa.com%2Fblog%2Frachel-platten-wildfire%2F&psig=AFQjCNFBy-u69t243kHdm8XM7Amla7e0Fg&ust=1460165898427740

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life

Wooden magnetic bottle opener- Harry Potter edition

By Tina - February 22, 2016

2 Comments

life

Cultured panna cotta

By Tina - February 22, 2016

I made panna cotta last weekend using my favorite recipe courtesy of Michael Symon IRON CHEF.

For those of you who do not know, panna cotta is an Italian dessert that is basically milk jello. It's delicious and very easy to make. Michael Symon puts a little spin to his jelly by adding some Greek yogurt goodness into the mix.

Here is what you'll need:
2 cups of heavy cream
1 vanilla bean (I'm not that fancy and substituted the bean with vanilla extract, the "legit" stuff, not imitation so maybe I am normal fancy)
1/2 cup of sugar (I only used quarter cup of sugar because the Greek yogurt I used was sweetened already)
1+1/2 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Ingredient list!!!! Make sure you DO NOT use fat free yogurt. I did that once to make this panna cotta and the yogurt reacted with the heat and curdled out. It was DISGUSTINGGGGG. There were just floating coagulated bits of milk protein solids separated from a clear aqueous layer of fatty oily yellow liquid whey (the liquid was like chicken stock color and if you can imagine chicken fat skin floating around yes that is exactly what happened). Gross!!!! But if this happens to you, don't freak out too much though (no matter how gross it is seeing your dessert like so). Yogurt curdling is normal since food high in acid and protein is unstable at high temperatures. Just know that the fat in yogurt helps stop the curdling process a little so make sure your yogurt has fat!!!!!

Direction time now! First you need to make the gelatin bloom = hydrate = soften. Do this by mixing your gelatin with the (cold) milk and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. It'll look a little like clumps but don't worry, you're fine! Is supposed to be like that! But to give you piece of mind, just remember that gelation thru water is thermally reversible so generally if your jelly is stringy you should be able to melt and cool again.

Now put your heavy cream and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Add that softened gelatin mixture in here too!!!!!

Next ladle slightly cooled cream mix into the yogurt until everything is incorporated and the yogurt dissolves. Also now is a good time to add the vanilla!

Time to refrigerate the milk jelly!! It takes about 4 hours if you're impatient and maybe 6 if you're good.

Can you tell that the panna cotta is chilled and ready to eat now?

Yum! I don't have anything to use as a garnish and I didn't put the panna cotta in fancy little shot glasses but I will include photos (from the internet) below of that to fulfill your fancy of looking at beautiful food pictures.

IMAGE SOURCE: hhttp://foodnetwork.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/food/fullset/2010/3/3/1/FNM_040110-Michael-Symon-Easter-001_s4x3.jpg.rend.sni12col.landscape.jpeg, http://www.italianfoodforever.com/2015/02/blood-orange-panna-cotta/, http://www.kj.com/buttermilk-panna-cotta-with-riesling-raisins, https://sweetdreamsrecipes.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/mango-guava-panna-cotta/
SOURCE: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-symon/vanilla-panna-cotta-recipe.html

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opinion

Red Rising book review

By Tina - February 04, 2016

I was told to read the book Red Rising. I did not do that for a long time. Then I was given the book electronically (via Amazon- just letting you know I didn't steal) so now I have to (because of the guilt and prodding from the gift giver).

Well, I read it last night. All in one go too, meaning that it was a fast read, which is nice, because I'm not a fan of slow paced books. Slow books are slow because they are boring. But eh, I thought the book was just okay. The genre (science fiction) I guess isn't really my thing..?

**SPOILERS (MAYBE) ALERT**

Quick summary: Red Rising, a book by Pierce Brown, follows a very ordinary boy in a dystopian society situation. This boy has a lot of teenage angst because he works in a hole and his lady is progressive and too cryptic and ends up dead. Now the boy is a super hero guy who becomes unbelievably awesome at too many things after a stay at a plastic surgery ring (cue training montage) so he can eventually venture deeper into the belly of the beast by participating in a legit Hunger Games to make war and save his people in the 2nd or 3rd installment.

Yea, I dunno. The novel could have been very epic and amazing and left me going WOW THAT WAS AWESome. But it didn't. I think a big reason for this is just because I didn't believe in the main character. The way he was portrayed just didn't seem like he would be doing anything except working in holes. I also did not find the description of his lady all that great. All she did was confuse the main guy. She wasn't very convincing with whatever her beliefs were which made me annoyed that she randomly went all martyr-y. I would much rather prefer her to be a Lady Macbeth type who abuses the guy to do crazy things (instead of confusing the guy to do crazy things) because then it's more cut in stone that yes we should hate her lol. But I think the biggest reason why I'm not impressed is 'cause of the whole Hunger Games barbarous situation the book got going on. It was excessive and for the most part, pointless (totally my opinion, the gift giver insisted that the murder-y student gang fight system that goes on is imperative to the story).

But don't get me wrong, I think the writing is fine. And the book did entertain. I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe if I was more of a sci-fi nut, I would like the book a little more.

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Wizarding World of Harry Potter | Universal Studios Hollywood

Rachel Platten concert

Wooden magnetic bottle opener- Harry Potter edition

Cultured panna cotta

Red Rising book review

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