Roasted salmon and pesto rice for dinner

  Would you like to roast my ultimate mustard glazed salmon? If so, you'll need:

-1 large salmon fillet with the skin on, mustard, capers and more...

  @Ingredients for the thick marinate, also called glaze:  -1/2 cup of mayo;  -4 teaspoons of yellow mustard;  -Lotsa capers;  -1/4 cup of lime juice; -salt and black pepper; -1/3 of a pack of onion soup powder; 
@How to prepare it: -Season the skin with, salt, black pepper, and splashes of lime juice.  -Brush the thick glaze onto the pink side of the salmon.  -Sprinkle more capers, if needed. -Always roast salmon skin side down.  -Wrap it carefully with aluminum foil.  -And let it roast for 30 minutes if your oven is slow like mine :)

5 different Liquid Eyeliner Brands Review

My favorite eyeline design: the cat eye

I am not very fond of  writing about girly stuff but I deal with eyeliners almost every day, no, literally every day. Let me explain: I have permanent black lines on my lids, let's say, something like thin lines tattooed at the root of my lashes. As they are permanent, I seem to be wearing eyeliner 24/7 and I might  because I simply enjoy drawing different shapes of lines on my lids. My number one design is the cat one, but it is so hard to pull it off.   Anywho, I want this post to be an eyeliner review on 5 different brands that I can get in Brazil. I am no rich, so I cannot afford foreign make-up. If you may know, Brazil is the most expensive country to live in. It is fucking hard to afford cars, a real estate, electronic devices, and don't get me started on perfumes and makeups. Therefore, we ought to be careful buyers. I want quality makeup at low cost. I own 5 different brands of eyeliners, so I decided on reviewing them for Brazilian makeup freaks. Hopefully, you will have fun with this review as much as I did. I measured not only the product itself but also its price and its availability in our country. These are the products:

1. Jasmyne Liner - price in Brazilian currency: R$9.75.  It is a brand that I could only find in make-up stores. It is the cheapest one and that is a plus. It coats well and it dries out immediately because it is already dry in the container. It is so dry that it hardens from the container, becoming impossible to apply on the lids and design with it. It lasted a month before hardening completely. Whereas, I will try to get another container because I liked it anyway.

2. Natura Aquarela Liner - price in Brazilian currency: R$23.80. This brand can only be found online or from catalogues. This liner is not a must. The texture should be creamier and it draws one line perfectly, but the brush is very spongy and it dries out too fast to draw the second line. It often disappoints me. I am not getting another container unless it is on sale. 

3. Intense O Boticário Liner - price in Brazilian currency: R$17.90.
This liner is cheaper than some drugstore brands. As it is not an expensive product, it becomes a bargain considering the top quality of product. It is not runny. It dries quite fast and it coats dramaticly. I highly recommend this eyeliner in case you live in Brazil. This brand is sold exclusively at O Boticário stores and they are located all over the country. The price is awesome for the job it does. 

4. Vult Liner - price in Brazilian currency: R$21.90.
This brand is easily found at any Brazilian drugstore. It is very watery. It takes forever to dry out. It is so runny that you should  watch it in case you tilt the unlidded container, the black liquid may spill onto your vanity. I make mistakes in my lines everytime I try to use this brand. I don't recommend it at all. I am not buying another one. Besides, it is too pricey. The brush is not spongy enough so it does not soak up the makeup black liquid which is supposed to be a much thicker fluid. It is simply bad.

            5. VS Beauty Rush Liner - price in Brazilian currency: R$ 29.00. The only imported brand of my personal collection. I got it as a present. The brush is tiny thin and the liquid is glittery. Sadly, it is not well pigmented. It is perfect for finish touches, although the brush is too flexible and it is too difficult to hold and design perfect lines. I just think it is too expensive for what it gives. I would gladly accept another one as a present, but it is not good business to invest on this liner. I will never get one for myself. Victoria's Secret products are hard to find where I live and that is a huge no-no to this brand. :(

My left hand holding the 5 brands while the right takes the pic.
O Boticário brand, the red one in the middle, receives my thumbs up.

Peanut butter sandwich day at our school! Yaaaaay

Thanks for the videos recorded by Eduarda, and thanks to the other Eduarda who tried out my peanut butter and ...oops sandwich!

My Medications, Bipolar, and Spirituality

I don't know why I never took some time to write about this topic which has been present in my life since hubby was diagnosed with diabetes. It has been 7 years or longer. But I am not here to talk about his condition or his meds. Since I quit drinking, I've been taking psychiatric pills. It has been 5 years. I am racking my brain to remember all their names but here they are: Diazepam, Lexapro, Paxil, Depakote, Queropax, Quetiapina, Zoloft, and maybe others that I could not recall.

When I was little, I grew up seeing my parents taking those prescribed pills. I never questioned why they needed to take those. It never occurred to me that they would have a psychological disorder of some sort to be taking that medication. I pretty much believed that those were mere "sleeping pills" and that is probably what they believed too. Lack of sleep has been an important issue in my family.

My parents never woke us up to do anything else but going to school. Even if we had a road trip to drive off and the time mattered, I remember my parents saying: "Let the kids sleep,,, we can always hit the road later." That allowed me explore my dreams and night terrors as well. I used to be able to control my dreams, recall them in details, and I'd often register them in journals. I din't really know what it is to be up early on Sundays. I was never up in the mornings on no-school days.  Not falling asleep and never remembering the dreams became issues to me only later in life, in my adulthood; in my mid thirties.

We heir both the good genes and the bad ones from our parents. I inherited the teaching language genes and neurotic ones as well. I am bipolar and I learned about it after I had dropped out of my third colleg - psychology major. I have read some many books about bipolarity. Never would I guess I was reading about my own disorder. I studied about it. It had tests and papers on the subject. I did therapy for 3 years and a half. I saw two psychiatrists. Even though, it took me too long to realize that I had manias and depression episodes constantly, right at my face, and nothing ever rang the bell.

It was a year ago when I asked my doctor about my condition being bipolarity and she confirmed it. You see, those kinds of doctors avoid telling you what your problem is, especially right away, because there are wide possibilities on how our brains function. Furthermore, as it is somethig based on description of symptoms; and these symptoms aren't usually physical, easy to capture from x-rays like an injury, or right from our eyes like bruises. Let alone, psychiatrists cannot even prescribe the exact meds you need. They are always trying out new things and adjusting miligrams, and when it is best to take them, so that we can function. It is literally playing with our minds.

I have been now taking two medications. I take Quetiopatine before going to bed and Zoloft in the morning. I also took Depakote for three months to help me deal with people. I had a long terrible episode of depression this year. I had to be away from my work for several weeks in order to recover, however I got worse because my job turned upside-down. I became a mess. I was not able to clean or organize my stuff. I thought about suicide every day. Then I changed my staff and my attitude towards my mental problems. I decided to accept these issues as spiritual battles rather than psychological matters.

It was the turning point of the year: when hubby and I embraced spirituality. It is almost the end of September, it is almost spring in Brazil, therefore my nose gets runny every morning due to polen. I am sneezing non-stoppingly but I am in bed with my cats blogging about my meds. I am boosting my energy with a large cup of black coffee and a tall can of Lo-Carb Monster energy drink. Besides, today is a local holiday, so it is a Saturday that I am not working (woo-hoo).  I am about to pop a half of Zoloft now... Just did <|:0)

When I was little, I'd look at my parents' pills and think: "I am so glad I don't need these meds to help me sleep." Now I say: "I am so GLAD that these pills exist so that I can sleep and function properly the next day." It is better than depending on alcohol which is what people rely on to cope with their own demons. The worse is having alcoholics judging you for choosing the meds treatment. You see, what we do is called: TREATMENT. We treat diseases. We must not disguise them.

Avoid masking your problems!  Instead, embrace the good and the evil in you because this is the only way you can set yourself free.

Get to know me

What makes me think I'm special?
I am over thirty and still can crack up about it.
I am beyond bounderies within me
I am able to chew gum and yet I get words out right
I am powerful and I can prove it
I can be whoever I want to in my night and daydreams
I can meet whoever I want to as well
I am not sophisticated though
Sophistication kills any type of magic
I delete anger and do not hold grudges
I would pull the trigger but I am not so sure I'd hit the bull's eye
I am such a complicated earthling that not even I restrain me
I can spit or swallow as long as it won't poison me
I am aware of my potential of editing and putting together only the worthwhile of this life
I am an euphemism for dissection
I am barbaric in the bathroom
I gulp vodka as if it were water
I fold clothes like monkeys and humanize like any mammal could do
I copy creatively. I cry non-...
I am not a weirdo - "Believe me" - I just suffer from overcast delusions
I am pretty normal if you really get to know me inside out.

by Laila Chris

Antecipating CAVALERA CONSPIRACY concert tonight in Porto Alegre ;)

Finally I moved the vanity to my bedroom. It feels great to know that I'll have better light to apply my make-up on :)

Primeiro Post em Português... Um dia isso iria acontecer kkkkk Qual o assunto? O meu trabalho, of course

"Você não tem como me assustar! Eu sou uma professora de ESL."

Hoje decidi escrever aqui em minha língua materna. Escrever em português é algo raro, e uma tarefa quase que torturante para mim. Devo me explicar: sou filha de professores de inglês, quando bebê aprendi palavras em inglês antes do português e cresci numa escola de idiomas. Fiz faculdade de Jornalismo no Brasil, e de Produção de Texto Literário nos EUA. Sim, escrever na minha própria língua é um exercício de muita paciência.

Em 1998 me mudei para os EUA regressando no fim de 2002, quando meu marido e eu decidimos instalar nossa própria escola. Eu posso dizer que leciono inglês desde os 14 anos, quando precisei substituir meu pai por ele ter se acidentado numa partida "amistosa" de futebol entre professores e alunos (acho que o aluno que chutou o joelho de papai, inconscientemente se vingava por alguma nota ruim que recebera na disciplina inglês kkkkkk). Piadas à parte, somo 24 anos de carreira como professora e 12 como coordenadora pedagógica de minha escola de línguas. 

Nesse tempo, venho observado uma constante: pais ( e quase nunca o aluno) que ficam desapontados com a escola quando há o revesamento de professores. Eu geralmente escuto ou leio comentários de pais de alunos crianças/adolescentes do tipo: "vou tirar meu filho da sua escola, pois vocês trocam professores", como se isso fosse algum fator negativo sobre a instituição. Daí me indago: a professora que me alfabetizou na 1a. série não foi a mesma da 2a. Ou há os casos em que temos professores de História nas 5a. e 6a. séries que são especializados em História do Brasil, e quando chegamos na 7a. e 8a. iremos ter aula com outro professor que domina História antiga ou a História da formação da Europa, por exemplo. 

Outro pensamento: eu já fiz 3 cursos de ESL (Inglês como Língua Estrangeira), e dois deles eu realmente fui ensinada por apenas 1 único professor - em Dublin tive aulas com Mr. Stephen e no parque da Disney tive aula com Shelli, mas na escola chamada Tomlinson localizada em Saint Petersburg (Tampa Bay, FL) eu tinha um professor diferente a cada hora de aula. Eu tinha um professor para cada conhecimento específico tais como: de redação, de pronúncia, de leitura, de conversação, e até de preparatório para Teste de Proficiência, o que me torna qualificada a preparar aluno para exames TOEFL e TOEIC. Estudei inglês no Brasil também. 

Fui aluna do meu pai, e também fui aluna de uns tantos outros professores. Lembro-me de cada um e aprendi muito com todos eles. Temos em nossa escola um staff excelente formado de professores que estudaram inglês em Israel, Londres, EUA, Australia, até aqueles que aprenderam a se tornar fluentes sem nunca terem saído do Brasil; esses inclusive são ex-alunos meus que, pela dedicação e brilhante desempenho, foram convidados a trabalhar conosco logo depois de formados. Temos orgulho dos nossos professores pois eles possuem especialidades diversas e possuem históricos que variam num tanto, que é mais do que positivo permitir que os alunos tenham contato com todos eles. 

A técnica freqüente (com trema mesmo) de revesar professores é engrandecedor e comum em qualquer instituição, seja ela de idiomas ou de ensino regular. Digo mais, é algo vital. O aluno precisa experiençar novos sotaques, ouvir novas estórias, aprender com as diferentes especializações dos professores e participar de dinâmicas diversificadas em sala de aula. É uma oportunidade única e riquíssima. 

Preciso realmente entender o que as pessoas querem dizer com: "vou tirar meu filho da sua escola, pois vocês trocam professores", já que ao transferir o seu filho para outra escola, obviamente aquele aluno vai acabar tendo aula com outro professor. Ou seja, não estariam trocando "6 por meia dúzia"? Isso é apenas uma das coisas que não entendo em Brasileiros desinformados que querem se meter no trabalho alheio. Pff.