Make a Dent in the World Water Crisis!

Dear Friends,

I'm trying to help put a dent in the world water crisis and I need your help. I've created three projects via charity:water, each with a goal of raising $5,000, enough funds to build a water well in a community in need of clean water. I'm asking that all of my friends and family find it in their hearts to donate, as there are millions of people without the basic need of water.

I've made three funds to match my friends' interests:

1.) NYU Fund: For all of my NYU friends that want to make a difference. This fund goes towards helping bring water to schools in need of it. Have some school pride and donate today at http://new.charitywater.org/nyufund.

2.) NYC Fund: For the city known for its water towers, atop every building. This fund is for all the New Yorkers who care about delivering clean water to people in need. Donate now at http://new.charitywater.org/nyc.

3.) Erica & Weikai's 2nd Anniversary: Today is the 2nd anniversary of dating for Weikai and me! In celebration, we're asking all of our friends and family to find it in their hearts to donate to the millions without water. We're lucky enough to have been born in societies with an overabundance of water. Let's give back. Donate now at http://new.charitywater.org/EricaandWeikai.

With all of my love and best wishes for you and yours!
Erica

NYU RAN Alumni Mixer Tomorrow

Hey NYU friends! Are you going to be at the NYU Recent Alumni Network Alumni Mixer tomorrow? Weikai (my boyfriend) and I will be there. See you there!

Click on the invitation above for more details!

How to Open Wine without a Corkscrew

Above: All you need to open a bottle of wine is a screw, screwdriver and plyers!

Have you ever gone to open a bottle of wine, but then suddenly realize that either (1) you don't have a corkscrew or (2) you can't find the friggin' thing?! I have! And that's why my boyfriend (Weikai) and I got inventive with our household tools and discovered a way to open wine without a corkscrew!

All you need is (1) a screw, (2) a screwdriver, and (3) plyers! If you have those things, you'll be good. We found out that it's actually better to have (1) a screw and (2) a hammer with a claw. However, we couldn't find our hammer at the time!

Below we'll illustrate just how it's done!

1.) Insert the screw into the cork and screw it with the screwdriver.

2.) Use the plyers (or hammer) to pry the cork up.


3.) Once the cork is almost out, use your hands to pull it out.


4.) And voila! You've done it! Your wine is ready to enjoy!!! Now, maybe you'll go all MacGyver on your wine more often!


Enjoy the new tip!!! Let me know how it goes for you!

Stern Semi-Formal 2009

Weikai accompanied me to the NYU Stern Semi-Formal last night. The venue, Capitale, was amazing. Dinner, on the other hand, was not so great. I had a rice pattie with vegetables... not as appealing as it might sound to my fellow vegetarians. The dancing was great, for the most part, though. The DJ wasn't anything to rave about, but any dance with Weikai is a ball. He's such a good dancer, that I couldn't care less what was going on around us!

We staked out a VIP area where no one was dancing and claimed it for ourselves. We danced the night away until my little feetsies hurt. Then, we called it a night and went back to his place for a well-deserved slumber.

I really enjoyed the night. Now, I'm looking forward to the NYU Senior Formal! So many dances, so little time!

I Love Ice Cream Cake!!!

Above: Ice cream cake! Read below for the full story!

Yesterday, Weily, my boyfriend's sister, mentioned ice cream cake. It was all downhill from there! I couldn't stop thinking about it and talking about it! Weikai, my boyfriend, was plagued with my begging all night long. At one point, though, he snuck off to his room. When I went to see what he was doing, he was looking up locations where we could find an ice cream cake! So sweet! At that time, it was too late, though. So we went to bed, and I awoke to thoughts of ice cream cake.

After class, we met up, napped a bit... and then! ICE CREAM CAKE! We walked to Cold Stone Creamery at Astor Place and Weikai treated me to a "Cake Batter Confetti" ice cream cake. Here's the complete description:

Layers of Moist Red Velvet Cake & Cake Batter Ice Cream with Rainbow Sprinkles, wrapped in Creamy White Frosting

Doesn't it make you want to shout in joy?!?!!?

After eating some of the cake at Cold Stone Creamery, Weikai walked me home while I tried to guilt him into coming up and eating some more cake and then some rice and veggies for dinner at 11pm. He declined, so I said I'd go up and enjoy the cake with my suitemates. After acting like he was going to drop the cake, I said, "Don't give me a heart attack!" In response, he whined, "You love the ice cream cake more than me! If I was going to fall, you'd be like, "Oh well!" I'm jealous of the cake! If you left me alone in the same room with it, I'd drop kick it!" hehehe. He's cute.

Above: After seeing Weikai off, I invited my suitemates (Jess, Neha and Maria) to come enjoy the cake with me! Along the way, we found Weijia and Shipra, too!

Thank you for the cake, Weikai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you way more than ice cream cake (and chocolate, which you know I love a whole bunch)!!!

Above: The end! Yummm!!!!

Butternut Squash Soup

My co-worker, Marnee, gave me a recipe for butternut squash soup one day after seeing a tweet I wrote on Twitter that asked "Does anyone else like butternut squash as much as I do?" She came over to my desk and I jotted down her recipe. It goes a little something like this:

Butternut Squash Soup:

1.) Cut up butternut squash into cubes
2.) Cut up apples and/or pears into cubes
3.) Spray baking pan with olive oil
4.) Put squash and apples/pears into baking pan
5.) Add Rosemary and garlic to baking pan (sprinkle evenly over contents and mix)
6.) Bake on 400 degrees for 40 minutes (do a fork test to make sure squash is done). (Addendum: I found that if you add water and cover the pan with aluminum foil, it cooks a bit better... that could have been implied, but remember I'm an amateur chef here!)
7.) Put contents of pan in blender.
8.) Add one cup of vegetable stock and some water
9.) Blend 2-3 times until smooth
10.) Add more water if necessary to make blend smoother

Voila! The soup is done! Enjoy!!!!

Soooo, Weikai (my boyfriend) and I made some of this lovely soup last night! Little did we know, a five pound butternut squash was going to take WAAAAY longer than 40 minutes to bake. So, we were up until 2:00am preparing the soup!

We hope to cook more homemade dishes in the future, but getting to bed earlier is important, so we can actually get past the appetizer before falling asleep!

Well, here are some photos from the festivities!

Above: Weikai seemed to enjoy cutting up the butternut squash.

Above: Putting it in the oven! Now we can nap until 1:30am!

Above: Weikai administered the first taste-test...

Above: I stepped in for a final taste! And the verdict: It's yummy!

Above: Unforunately, we both fell asleep before we could have a proper bowl! So, today at lunch, I sat down and enjoyed a nice, hot bowl of soup! MMM!

Special thanks to Marnee for the recipe!