Author: aucolehadassah

note: this is written in a manner for readers to feel how annoyed i am and it might suggest that one should pay attention during history lessons or even get slightly cultured.

okay people, rant time*in a super sassy tone*

yesterday, after church, Reba and Cole went to the Accademia in Florence. my lovely best friend of life decided to post a photo of il david on the instagram. LOL. didn’t even cross my mind to do the same.

except for some idiot thought i hacked her account( which i do often but usually for photos of myself or her making a face duh) and posted it on her behalf. come on guys. even if i did, why would this be an issue.

OH YEAH: y’all are a part of the new world

because some people are uncultured and have no idea who michelangelo is(and most people who are aware of his existence and contribution to IDK LIKE EVERYTHING will pronounce his name incorrectly).

what. what. cole, are you serious? yes, i am serious. it is a depressing, uneducated world that we live in.

jk that’s just the United States( please refer to all that is going on in politics lol that is reality tv).

now, i am used to and quite comfortable with being falsely accused on wrongdoings. it happens quite a bit and i grew up with it occurring on the daily(haters gonna hate). but that’s okay because God knows the truth and if you have a problem with me, it’s between you and God.

leave. me. out. of. it.

now, this would prose no issue sans for the fact that i don’t care very much for il david.

never have, never will.

most sculptures and paintings don’t seize my attention.

i like architecture. that’s about it. oh wait jk i like philosophy.

the renaissance isn’t my choice time in history guys, so please eat some polenta.

 

 

note^2: i’ll be posting an actual update shortly

I know, it’s lame. It’s there and then it vanishes. It’s literal magic.

Scientists have developed a way to use cotton candy machines to further research with Thermoresponsive Sacrificial Microfibers.

http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/02/cotton-candy-machines-may-hold-key-for-making-artificial-organs/

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adhm.201500792/abstract

Yep, magic.

 

 

there is no real relevance to this but it interests me

I have always always always wanted to go to the Vatican. Despite their beliefs of an *incorrect* faith, I had major respect for catholicism and their religion. That’s what it is. It is a religion. It is works based and no set guarantee of salvation. A religion is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules in order to worship. Faith is a belief or trust. My faith gets me to heaven; not my religion.

Nevertheless, I’ve always held the Vatican to a high esteem. I’m not sure whether it was the formality or the structure that truly astounded me but.. well, at least in the museum, there was a surplus of art. It was ridiculous; sculptures were lined up on the floor, like books in a library. There was a portion of a hall where there were sculptures still in bubble wrap. That’s when it hit me. I’ve always known but it truly, truly hit me that the Catholic church is the most lucrative establishment harnessing the art of spiritual and traditional manipulation. The Vatican has over 8.8 billion in assets. Can’t spread the love and give to the needy as liberally as you should? Over 1.1 billion is off the balance sheets. The freaking Sistine is like a rental: give enough money and the rights are yours i.e. Porsche, Nippon Television(Japan), etc

ps no pics allowed except took some and guess what- they’re sharp.

I guess the courtyard was nice. The exit stairwell is pretty fantastic save for the fact that it’s quite steep. Anyone in floor length apparel wouldn’t be able to survive that without face planting. Obviously, my sister- nuns have a separate entrance. Speaking of nuns, I saw none(HAHAHAHAHAHAH AHHAHAHAH HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA) inside the Vatican area. Ironically enough, on our way home from the SM Novella train station, we saw about 60 nuns in front of the Duomo. TFTI?!

Honestly, I did go in with an open mind. As aforementioned, I wanted this to be a place that I loved. I was just disappointed- it’s human. But unlike catholicism, I’m thankful that I put my faith in a God that never fails.

Breakfast was solid. I had a marmalade croissant. If they’re this good here, I can’t imagine what Parisian croissants will be like.

We got the audio tour. We lasted about a 45 minutes out of our 3-4 hour stay.

Restoration kits are legit

Before the BBQ

Do you dig it?

Courtyard haven ft construction #offseason

fam, meet new fam 🙂

Yay art

Seeing the fountain felt like a breath of fresh air amongst all the sculptures.

I miss Mango

MOMMY I WANT THIS BATHTUB AND I WANT IT NOW

Speaking of horses, there’s a Spanish riding school in Vienna. I’m thinking about getting Reba lessons as an early birthday gift.

I think her smile might be too enthusiastic.

Reba vs Snake: Sounds like Genesis, no?

I wanted to play outside.

Bubble bubble wrap bubble bubble bubble wrap bubble bubble wrap

Thought the shadows were cool…

Ceiling booji enough? #intricatelattice

“Let’s pile art side by side and give no true descriptions!”

Perhaps I was just overwhelmed by the Vatican, in all it’s opulent glory.

^when you’re so done that you can’t even

SO CUTE LAH

Yours truly *truly happy to be outta there*

ft locals waving

cute cute

Randy, this one’s for you!

Let there be light, finally

BFFLZ

dusk O P

Afterwards, we walked around for about 2 and a half hours because the place that Uncle Arnold recommended for dinner did not open until 7:30. We barged in, an hour early, too see what was happening. A food tour had closed out the restaurant. When we got back, a crowd of 30-40 people hovered over the full reservation list. There was an annoying group from UCLA trying to cop our #1 spot(#1 on the no reservations list). Fortunately, the owner remembered Reba and me opening the door and making a dramatic entrance the hour before. Hallelujah! We were seated in 30 minutes and the others were sent away. So sad, too bad.

Best fried artichoke of my life

Good but not spectacular(best seller, apparently)

The oxtail was fantastic.

Best tripe of my life

Good but super salty #salty

Pretty good but Daddy’s is better

Pantheon at night 😀

ft Jordan to the right

Trevi @night

I wished not to fall.

The lights guided us home 🙂

Too many k’s stepped for the day

Buonna sera, Roma

After settling in Roma, we walked 33,723 steps(according to the great fitbit) over the bridge, and to the Pantheon, Trevi, and Colosseum. This is a continuation of “roma”.

Pro tip: Pantheon admission is free

The world’s largest, unsupported dome

Unreal

Chestnuts roasting

Trevi ft construction

I LOVE HAVING A PHOTOGRAPHER FRIEND ❤

On the way to Disneyland(what we called the ruins)

The drop was major

I know all her best angles.

D I S N E Y L A N D (original version probably)

We were the last group of the day to enter the Colosseum( not Oakland).

I was hoping for a live demonstration. Live. hahah. because people died.

I don’t remember what was funny.

Golden hour approaching

It’s amazing that people built these, by hand, in such a time where technologies were fewer but obviously, of greater quality. These structures were built to last rather than the cosmetic, temporal buildings that are common today.

GOLDEN HOUR.

We proceeded on our walk back. Unlike the rest of the day, the evening was a sharp, cold type. Reba found a local, dinner spot a block from our base. This is what we ate.

Sidenote: besides ourselves, there were no americans in this establishment

I suppose the photos uploaded in the wrong order but this is a fried artichoke.

Veal with lemon sauce

This was a fried assortment of appetizers including olives, fish, zucchini with cheese, and some form of custard.

Jordan got the steak which I can honestly say is significantly better than any other restaurant steak I’ve ever tried. However, Mommy’s takes the cake.

This. was. ethereal. and. scrumptious. and. tart. and.

Reba likes it and that’s what matters 😀

That was all for day 1. Keep up with my continuation for day 2 in “disappointed”.

 

I’m sitting at the kitchen table, Reba and I are eating pesto pasta with a sunny side egg and sausage sautéed with garlic. Side dish of the day? A chive cheese concoction that I, literally, whipped up. There’s a fat, ugly pigeon on the roof next to our balcony and if it were to fly into our kitchen, I know that’d we’d probably scream.

My hair is icky, ticky- tacky and dry. Shampoo and conditioner have not fared me well. It’s course, losing its luster, and my waves aren’t bouncy. Back to vinegar! And my sister isn’t here to complain about the smell! Molto bene.

From the title, you can probably deduce where we spend the last weekend. Can I just say wow? Wow. Wowowowowowoowowwwwwww. I love Roma.

Shall I proceed chronologically? Hm.

HI MRS FONG! I HAVN’T TOUCHED A PIANO IN OVER A MONTH! It’s so weird. I miss it.

Okay okay hocus focus. It’s just challenging to articulate such an eventful weekend. Maybe  I should just stick with photos. Yes, I’ll stick with that save for an introduction.

Our train would depart from SM Novella at 8 AM. Naturally, I set my alarm for an appropriate time seeing as I had packed. About 20 minutes before my alarm, I woke up. Brilliant- more time to talk to my Savior. Reba, being Reba, barged into my room 5 minutes after to make sure I was still breathing. Just kidding, she wanted to make sure I’d get ready. I have a set time of getting ready in under 15 minutes. Prior training has afforded me to be ready in less than 5 minutes( doesn’t count devotions). She still questions the process but really, multitasking saves time.

We live about a 10 minute walk from the train station. It’s about two blocks from the Duomo. So, we arrived at 7:45 and I lose my ticket. I lost it in my left pocket. That’s perfectly normal. My heart didn’t skip any beats because I firmly believed that nothing would go wrong, so God help me. Reba grabbed the ticket for safe keeping. Our friend, Jordan, a Cal alumni( woot woot) joined us on our trip but because our economical ticket had sold out, he road in the fancier cars where they distributed chocolate.

The train ride was really enjoyable, actually. It was about 90 minutes. Reba knocked out in 5 minutes. The people around me noticed the stickers on my lap top case and sparked conversation about my Oaklandish sticker! #represent I’ve received many comments about my United Nations sticker but never the Oaklandish one so naturally, I was enthused.

We continued to discuss the differences of education in Italy and the US. He was part of an initiative to encourage the utilization of online resources for research and filtered learning. Their program has a good percentage of national participation.

The man across the aisle was a professional opera critic. He, firstly, exclaimed that Andrea Bocelli cannot sing well. After his argument, I was thoroughly convinced and agree. A few of our other tastes amongst the professionals leveled. I love Albina while he described Angela G(Romanian soprano) as “a beautiful girl”. I laughed so hard. He then said that when you have nothing good to say, to either say “he’s a handsome man” or “she’s a beautiful girl”. I’m definitely going to be implementing that into my habits. Watch out.

The train ride was very fast noting that we did book the frecce. After a regional transfer, we made it to San Pietro and waited a good 10 minutes for Jordan. We proceeded to walk through Saint Peter’s in order to get to the Air b&b. It’s a majestic basilica. If you need to reference it to a visual, the newer Pink Panther’s sequel has a scene where Inspector Jaques puts on the “big, pointy hat” and greets the masses, in attempt to retrace the Pope’s steps. Another thing; the Pope was in Mexico. Uhh, tfti.

After settling, we walked 33,723 steps(according to the great fitbit) over the bridge, and to the Pantheon, Trevi, and Colosseum. Here are a few images from our journey.

It was beautiful weather! This is the street of our apartment.

We were fortunate enough to stumble upon the best place for pasta. It’s a block from St Peter’s basilica. The prices were ridiculous; 5-7 euro for a plate of handmade pasta with a good selection of sauces and pastas made to order. Even at home, a good pasta place would charge $15 for this quality. We ended up going back everyday, in the afternoon.

“say when”

The gear is high level stuff.

They take credit!!!

Three types of architecture- insane

There’s no drought.

These are the only hugs I’m getting #deprivation

It’s beautiful.

Crossing over to the other side 🙂

I thought this to be aesthetically pleasing.

Since this is dense, I’ll continue with the post “ruin”.

I’m not sure if it’s just me but it seems to be progressively brisk weather. Reba agrees with me so maybe I’m not insane.

We are eating lunch and jamming out to an a cappella version of “It is Well”. It’s really peaceful in our dining area. It’s so peaceful that I don’t want to go to class later. Unfortunately, you can’t claim being sick and show up to the soccer game. It isn’t kosher.

Since the cold is touching our bones, even with as many layers of clothing possible, we decided on soup for lunch. Actually, we made the base a few days ago and were wondering when would be a good time to break it out and build on it. By making the base, I mean boiled the chicken bones with garlic, onions for a few hours and left it in the fridge.

Our stovetop was full on 3 burners. One, my thai tea was boiling. Two, some ginger-honey concoction was being heated in order to combat all the germs of people around us(ew ew ew). Lastly, the nice base was boiling with zucchini and purple carrots. The purple carrots( as talked about in my chili post) stained the soup. Go figure.

The component missing? Pasta. I opted for stelline. When I saw them at the store, I freaked out. You see, my Buni would make soups quite often. In the event that she would buy pasta, she would buy the star pasta. I grew up on this and it was pretty awesome to be able to cook a piece of home in our current home.

In romanian, stelline is still stelele or stele. Man, I love latin roots. They’re so cool. In any case, stars mean a lot to me.

Oh, sorry. I haven’t properly introduced myself.

My name is Nicole-Hadassah. My family and friends call me Cole.

Where’d the Hadassah part come from? Isn’t that your middle name?

That’s a funny story but I only found out about it a few years ago, when I renewed my passport which I didn’t even know expired. This entire ordeal prevented me from going to Germany for two months during my sophomore year in high school. Grrrr….

Nope, it isn’t my middle name. It’s my first name. Yep. Weird. And trippy.

What does that have to do with anything?

Allow me to refer to the story of Queen Esther. Well, Hadassah is her Hebrew name. I’m jewish, by blood so that might have something to do with the name being chosen save for the fact that she was epic, stood up for what’s right, and changed the course of history according to God’s will. She was also obedient and a risk taker. #originalgirlboss

The Persian for Hadassah is Esther. Now, play with the letters and sound out the name.

Sounds a little like a hybrid of star and stelle, doesn’t it?

Well, Esther directly translates to star.

Here I am, eating my name from purple broth.

It kind of looks like the night sky.

#imaginationnation

Prepping a speech..

 

 

 

Firstly, I would like to stress the contrast of difficulty to prior learned, latin based languages as opposed to Italian. It’s usually toilette, toaletă, at least something indicative. How do you go from that to gabinetto? Does the “etto” part hint at it being smaller than usual? What’s a gabine?

To me, Italian is significantly more challenging than Romanian or French. This may be due to mixing up the similarities in the languages. The pronunciation is not fluid, forcing that full “italiano” feel. Also, Italian is a phonetic language. Needless to say, my skill is sub par despite the compliment the gelato cashier gave me for walking in, with a huge smile, saying buongiorno.

Why americans don’t bother learning simple phrases in a land they’re visiting or staying at will always phase me. It ain’t yo land or yo home or yo couch. Learn things. Be proactive in understanding the cultural differences( they don’t really smile here but my goal is to change the world so if I make anyone uncomfortable by smiling so much, don’t worry. you’ll adjust).

Okay, so the title is toilet. I’m going to talk about the toilet. A few of you understand why this is such a necessary topic. The rest of you think you know.

To the rest of you, bless your heart and judge on.

If we’ve been corresponding via the video, you’ve probably seen my apartment. If you haven’t, the following will have to suffice.

Our bathroom is known as a “wet bathroom”. I was visiting a friend’s apartment, earlier today, and she mentioned how much she wanted a “wet bathroom”. I can’t imagine why; she has a tub #rare. A “wet bathroom” is a bathroom that is always wet due to a small area cramming in all that is necessary. Our toilet and shower head are two feet from each other. There is no barrier save for a curtain. We have a bidet but that’s where we leave the mop. We only use the mop for the bathroom because it is a wet bathroom. It is always wet.

Besides the proximity to the shower, our toilet is special. You may hear about those fancy, Japanese toilets with  heated seats and music, etc. Nah, not as cool as ours. When you flush, which you do by pushing a button on the wall, the heavens pour out blessings. I call it a built in cleansing mechanism.

You see, the water tank is directly above the toilet. It’s old. Actually, most everything is old seeing as Florence is a renaissance city which many of the original features. That’s besides the point. The water tank is old. When flushed, it leaks a good amount. This causes the toilet area to get wet. And then the bathroom stays wet, hence the term “wet bathroom”.

I have always been especially thankful for toilets. They are a modern day luxury( that I have always been blessed to have but never took for granted). While China may own much of the US debt, they still don’t have as many toilets per capita. India may have all the IT and science kids but a recent study shows that the country has more cell phones than toilets.

Which leads me to my next point; why in the world is such a commonality considered a taboo topic, especially in the US?

We all go. Go where? Go poo, duh. What, are you embarrassed about having waste? You didn’t look embarrassed while you were eating. Your body isn’t embarrassed when it has energy to function properly. You know what is embarrassing? It’s embarrassing when someone is so hungry that they can’t function.

Consider the alternative to doing the #2. It’s constipation or malnourishment.

clogged waste= sad face

 

My point is that I have always perceived that I was thankful for the toilet but somehow, God managed to increase my gratitude and appreciation for such a novelty. That’s correct. You may consider your tech, clothing, or junk as novelty but I consider something a little more valuable to my lifestyle as such.

PS The Kohler Numi is my dream toilet, just in case you’re curious.

tag

It’s 1:30 am and I just finished a study guide that’s a bit long for a midterm I have in a few hours. It’s cold again. Today was pretty interesting. I won’t bore you with details, though.

Uffizi

chilling @ piazza della signoria

We live about a 5 minute walk from all of this chaos.

Ft Gloria’s Bae, Nike

x3

Medici’s know what’s important. They are.

Artsy enough?

part of a picture

Molto bene

Honestly, architecture and lighting are more intriguing..or just the entire Medici history.

Lookin a little tired, huh?

Medici 4 lyfe

Getting progressively restless…

Same.

Wanting to play outside as per usual…

Because the Medici’s would burn things, kill people, etc no big deal

These paintings were commissioned, privately, to encourage fertility. Michelangelo hated them but got paid enough so why not.

I’m still looking up because it’s more majestic and opulent. And I ditched the group for 10 ish minutes. Oops. I learned more than the tour guide said by simply reading the descriptions. I’m not lazy enough to just mosey along.

If I build/find/steal a space time continuum, I’d probably chill with the Medici’s first.

Long may you reign.

Digression: I really miss singing and my siblings. At home, music is part of my everyday. It’s encouraging and uplifting the soul and spirit. We sing almost any moment we are together( and awake), if not with Madeleine on the Violin and Etienne practicing piano. Rocking out to By Faith and virtually, any song, is impossible without the melody and bass, especially since harmonizing is my role in life. And how can I harmonize without my foundation and complement? Je suis incomplet. Love you fam.

Hope y’all are enjoying the warm weather. 

Y’all should know that I’m not a chili person. There’s something about it that has never inclined my tastebuds. I don’t understand the hype. I don’t think the taste is something I’ll ever crave.

But for some reason, I felt like making it today.

And my roomie asked for the recipe so here ya go. The total cooking time was 6 horas. Yea, that’s right. 6 horas.

Things you should know:

• I don’t cook with recipes
• We have no measuring utensils
• It tastes good and my audience enjoyed it

Things you need:

• Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 yellow onions
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 handfuls of ground beef
• 1 huge-o red bell pepper
• 1 huge-o yellow/green bell pepper
• 1 1/2- 2 cups of fagioli borlotti
• 2 huge-o orange carrots
• 2 huge-o purple carrots
• 1 handful of parsley

Sour cream substitute:

• Formaggio fresco
• Ricotta

a) Cook the fagioli with ish 8- 10 cups of water. It might seem like a lot. It should look like a lot. If you think the water is excessive, fine. Remove some. Personally, I like it a little soupy. Also, by the second day, the starch will bring the piece together. That’s all you, boo. Start with high heat, progress to medium, and then how low can you go.

b) Get your grater out and use that interesting, star ish, pokey side. That will be the bane of you. Put on a swagtastic playlist( I jammed out to Streams in the Desert Trio Vol 3 + that new one that only has a few good songs so I was irritating everyone by saying “skip” every few seconds. I am not sorry). Grate those carrots into a plate or bowl. I recommend doing this on the table. Even doing this on the table, I got the purple stub to stain my pants. They’re tan pants. Reba thought I got my period.

c) It’s time to cry! Andrea Bocelli has that song “Time to say goodbye”. Yea, well, now it’s just time to cry. Dice those onions! Funny story, so far, save for 2 occasions, I’ve only cried due to onions. As per usual, I suffered. Reba was at the table while I was dicing and she suffered as well. Honestly, I think the au de Onion is still in the air.

d) Actually, slice everything up. All of it; mince the garlic, dice the bell peppers, do what you do to the parsley.

e) Get a taller sauce pan, heat it up, and glaze the surface with a good amount of oil. Then, dump the onions in there and let them wilt a little.

f) Add the bell peppers and let those cook for about half an hour, on low heat. Maybe longer. You’re the boss.

g) Check in with your beans. You should have two large saucepans on the stove on medium to low heat at this point(two ish hours into the game).

h) Dump the carrots in. They should look gross. The parsley can be added in after 15 minutes.

i) Change your playlist to Alexandrea Desplat because he’s my actual favorite. Scores from Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, The Imitation Game, and The Kings Speech highly recommended.

j) With your hands, work the garlic into the ground beef

k) Dump the contents of pan B(onions+ friends) into pan A( beans and gooey water).

l) Mix in the meat and cook it low and slow for another two ish three hours.

As for the salt and pepper, do that at your own discretion. I don’t use salt almost ever. I don’t even put salt on my eggs. My iodine levels are abnormally low because of the lack of salt in my diet. So, do with that what you will. Reba and Jamie wanted it saltier so they were in charge of that.

Do a 1:1 ratio of the fresh fromage and ricotta. Add salt to your own discretion.

A dollop of that concoction with your bowl o’ chili and you’re all set.

It’s good. Also, it’s pretty cold and this is hearty/ warm.

PLEASE NOTE that my recipe is quite different in that, I have a higher fiber content. This is to ensure that your bowel movement is good.

Miss Catherine, how much water have you had today?