Harry Potter

You guys probably know that the new Harry Potter movie came out last Thursday (11/18). Well, my roommate, Krish, is a HUGE Harry Potter fan (and a bunch of my friends too), so she's been really excited for the past month. When she heard that the Imax theater at the Franklin Institute was going to be playing the new Harry Potter movie, she walked over to the box office and bought a dozen tickets for the Thursday midnight showing. Of course, since I'm her roommate, I got first dibs on the tickets. I've never read any of the books, but I've seen the movies (never in theaters) and Krish's excitement really rubs off. Anyways, at 10PM we all decided to walk 20 min to the Franklin Institute (in windy 27 degree weather), because there wasn't any assigned seats in the theater. We were one of the first groups of people there, but in the end, it didn't really matter, because this big group of girls dressed up as Hermione cut in front of us just as we were going into the theater. Nevermind that, we got Harry Potter goody bags and we were on the 11PM news live! So, while we were waiting, we had some of those jelly beans in Harry Potter ( I got some really nasty ones), watched some "magic" demonstrations, and played UNO. Back to the movie. It was better than I thought it would be, and much better than the first 3. The way the movie was projected onto the screen, Harry Potter's face was so close to mine it was like I was right there with him. Watching it in Imax was kind of weird, and the fast action scenes were a little blurry. Despite that, the whole experience was worth $9, even though I had a 9am class and then a test later on that day. So, if any of guys are debating whether or not to see it, you should definitely check it out. Oh, and it's always interesting to see people walking around wearing cloaks and waving "wands" around in the air.

An update on the lice situation. Lice-girl's roommate now has lice. Actually, she already got it from Lice-girl earlier, but now she has it again. It's like they're playing "lice tag" or something. This whole situation is so funny yet it's so horrible. At least I got to see Harry Potter at Imax. I'm so happy its Thanksgiving break now.

Harry's Visit

Oh yeah, Harry will be visiting for about 2 weeks from 12/18 through the New Years. I have to work but if anyone wants to visit Philly, hang out or take him around call me!

Turkey For You, Turkey For Me............

Ok, ok, I'm am now in Philadelphia for the time being. I'm living in University City right near UPenn. I've been here since July 2005 and commuting back and forth from Orange County for the past few months. Next month, my lease runs out so I'll officially be living in Philadelphia. I will still try to visit CA maybe once/month and I'll have more time to vacation vs. packing and running errands. Trying to get used to the cold weather is difficult but thank god for heated seats.

I am making Turkey too so its the perfect time for Thanksgiving recipes. The trick to a juicy turkey is brine. It is recommended to Brine a turkey overnight and all it is immersing the turkey in the following mixture. Try to get a bucket and you can place a clean trash bag in the bucket and put the brine in there with the turkey.

First clean out the chicken, remove giblets.

1 C salt (preferrably kosher salt)
1 C Brown sugar
2 gallons of water
optional:
2 apples (quartered)
2 oranges (quartered)
1 lemon (quartered)
Some rosemary or thyme springs

If you like citrus add one more lemon if not leave out the lemon. Throw it all in a bucket and soak overnight. Keep in a cool place if it doesn't fit in the fridge so it doesn't go bad, maybe outside.

When your read to cook the turkey, start no later than noon. Take cheesecloth and dip it in cooking wine and wrap the whole turkey in cheesecloth. You can add a bit more salt and pepper on top of the cheesecloth for taste. Secure the legs with string. Preheat oven at 325 degrees and add chicken stock to the pan. When the oven is preheated put the turkey in and bake for one hour and take it out to baste it with the broth. Then take aluminum foil and lightly cover the turkey to keep it from burning. Then keep basting it every 30 min or so. Insert a meat thermometer in the thigh and when it reads 165 degrees then its done. In the last half hour, uncover the foil for an extra crispy taste.

Unravel the cheesecloth and stuff it with instant stuffing. I'm not big on stuffing but it looks nice.

I can post more recipes or side dishes, let me know. Good luck!

Thanksgiving

Helen, we need you to post a Thanksgiving recipe.
One that's easy, preferrably.

Thanks,
Jeff and Yao

P.S. Oh yeah, tell us what you're up to too... you never replied to my e-mail.
P.P.S. The P.S. being of more interest than the message actually.
p.p.p.s. come to LA!!

My suitemate has...

Lice. In her hair.

Sarah (another suitemate) and I spent all of last night and today cleaning the place. We had to get this special spray that kills lice on non-washable items, because she thinks she got it from the couch (most likely not). Apparently, she's had it for a week. Since everyone else went home for the weekend, Sarah and I had to de-lice the place. I've only been here for about one and a half months and I'm getting really annoyed with Lice-girl. She's a big slob and expects everyone else to clean up after her. She didn't even help us clean the place.

Anyways. Aside from that, its been great here. I really like the rest of my suitemates, and for the most part, we get along fine. There's six of us in the suite, which has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a living room, and a kitchen. We live in University City, right near 30th Street Station, so we can hear the trains during the day. Even though we only live on the 4th floor, the view's pretty nice, especially at night when the buildings all light up.

Classes are mostly interesting and the workload is ok. There's really no "busy work" like in high school. Mostly, its just studying and going over notes. There's always lots of things going on around here, both on campus and off, so its never boring. Still, I can't wait to go home. I'm getting really tired of eating dining hall food.

The view from my room (Well, actually the lounge on the 4th floor. But this is what I see from my window everyday).

Halloween Costume Pictures

Pretty self-explanatory.