Before 2011 ends....

I'm back from hibernation! Actually, I'm not really back, just wanted to post something since it's been a long time since I posted something. 

Christmas has passed and the New Year is looming just around the corner but my bestfriend and i still managed to go somewhere and did something crazy...

We were supposed to have her license verified by the PRC for examination purposes but naive as we are ( yes, we're naive), we did not know that there are a lot of things to be accomplished before the license can be verified so in it's entirety

, we just spent around 20 minutes at PRC. To think we crossed seas just to get there.

Now on to the crazy thing we did. Well, it was more of "MY OWN" crazy thing.

We went to a mall to kill time before our boat trip back home. I was so sleepy that I wasn't able t finish my lunch when I told here I wanted to have a massage so I could sleep. We then went around the mall looking for a spa/salon that offers massages. Then we saw this Fish spa.

I was the one who suggested to try it. y best friend just wanted to have the 20 minute reflexolgy thingy but I was so persistent on trying the Fish spa. So we got the 45 minute "dip" including a free massage at the end. 

I was the first one to go inside the "VIP" room but when I saw the fishes, I panicked. 

To cut the story short, I did NOT... even once tried to dip my feet. I just paid for the VIP treatment just to watch the fishes "nibble on my friend's feet. I tried to dip my sole but the moment I felt the fish nibble, I lifted it up.

Ok so this is what my friend's feet looked like when the fishes were nibbling it.

She says it tickles, but i'm imagining something else. I was imaging piranhas eating my feet. There was another "pool" with bigger fishes and she tried those too and says that it's less ticklish. The only thing I enjoyed though was the foot massage.

Right after, we went to Jaro Church. It's actually significant for me since, the church and I share something in common. The church celebrates it's patron's feast day on my birthday. For as long as i can remember, we would always go here on my birthday and attend mass. i also remember that the statue of the Our Lady of Candles isn't as big as it is right now. People say it grew in size.

The picture I go had a sort of reflection because of the glass. When we got down ( you have to climb up a flight of stairs to see the statue), a wedding was about to begin. The bride was seated in a car (small one that looked like a mini cooper) and instead of just flowers on the car, this is what they had...

Cute, isn't it?

The funny thing was that, we over heard one of the principal sponsors say to the bride:

"Wow, you're really beautiful. You look like you're getting married." (Illongo version: Baw ka gwapa sa imo daw kalaslon ka). Well duh!!! She is in a wedding gown and is INDEED going to be married. We also overheard that the reason for the delay of the ceremony is that the Priest is late... hehehehe

So there you have it... an adventure before the year ends... hope next year will be as fun...

[Fandom] It's the 26th

*photo credit yuckie-chan@livejournal.com*

     This is the first time that I am supposed to be seriously blogging about Satoshi's birthday but unfortunately I couldn't since I am stuck here at the christmas Bazaar tending my "wares". to celebrate it, I cooked spicy seafood pepperoncino (emphasis on the spicy since Riida likes it hot... wait that sounded ero-poi).

     I also baked chocolate cupcakes. (with a candy BLUE FISH on top)

I'm going to post later what the pepperoncino looked like.

    

Who would even think that this guy is 31 years old?

[FANDOM] Three more days

Three more days until this guy's birthday...

Can't believe he's more than  30 already....

*photo credit: tumblr.com

Busy bee...

been busy these past few weeks. will tryto blog this week

[Lists] Christmas Wish List

Christmas is just around the corner and the kid inside me couldn't help but make a Christmas list.

1. A new camera

I do have a point and shoot cam but I love the quality an SLR camera has but I hate the "bulky' body of the SLR. At first I wanted a Sony NEX5 cam. It's a point and shoot but of SLR quality but when Nikon released their V1/J1 series, I said this is what I want. I'm just wishing Santa's going to be SUPER EXTRA GENEROUS this year.

2. ONITSUKA TIGER

I want this not because Uma Thurman wore this brand in Kill Bill, nor do I want this because it's Japanese made. I want this simply because it's super comfy. I have been crushing on this Mexico DX 66 ever since I saw it in this color. Paging Jiggs... it's Christmas... :)

3.  Apple Magic Mouse

This one, I really need. It's hard to click and drag using the track pad. It usually takes me a long time to finish a project with photoshop while using the trackpad.

4. A New Book

This is the newest book in the series, not to mention this is the only one missing from my collection. I'm   trying to control myself from downloading the ebook.

5. Clawdeen Wolf

I have the Frankie Stein Doll and she's lonely. She needs he friends. Clawdeen this Christmas and Draculaura on my birthday. 

6. Zuca Bag

I almost forgot, I want this bag too. It's so popular with figure skaters but it's not just made for them. It's made for people who love to travel. I especially like the little detachable compartments inside.

Right Now this is what I want for Christmas. I may or may not receive them. But hey, I can dream can't I? Who knows Santa might give these to in one go... heheheh

Margarita Nights

     Even though I was so tired, I couldn't say no to a Birthday Celebration. So after I got home from working on the "well" the entire day, I got tweet from Tin2x saying Margot's celebrating her birthday (her birthday's on the 29th).

     I took a quick bath and waited for them to fetch me. We had dinner at Pepe's (sorry no pics. I forgot to take them since we were hungry :P).

     Margot had just finished watching a movie with her eldest daughter, so Kyanna had dinner with us. It was just me, Tin2x, Margot and Mayee (1/3 of the entire group). 

     We had a pitcher of frozen strawberry margarita and ice cream for Kyanna.

It was fun catching up. So much stories to tell so little time (Mayee had work at 11PM).

Again, Happy Birthday Margot! Wishing you a happy & fruitful year...

And here's to being FRIENDS FOREVER....

[Recipe] Pandesal (Salt bread)

Did I tell you that the only thing that I'm afraid to bake/cook is bread? The fact that I would need to knead (need... knead... hmmm homophones) the dough for a certain amount of time, wait for the yeast to take effect (meaning wait for the dough to rise) is just too taxing for me. But I finally found the courage and this simple recipe to bake pandesal.

So what is pandesal? Pandesal is the most common Filipino breakfast food. It's eaten with a variety of things. Butter. jam, liver spread, name it you can definitely eat it with pandesal. But my favorite way of eating it is dunking it in hot native coffee.


Here's the catch. I did not follow the exact recipe below. I tried to do half of the recipe, plus I did not allow it to fully rise after cutting it into small pieces. The result... the taste was fine as per my aunt, grandmother & cousin. The only problem is, isn't too fluffy. It was to "siksik" (full / thick /compressed or whatever you call it). But hey I had fun making it, so here's the recipe.


What you'll need:

4 cups (500g) all purpose flour 

3 tspn instant dried yeast

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 tspn salt

5 tbspn softened butter

1 tbspn oil

1 egg

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup fresh milk

Procedure:

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt & yeast

2. Lightly mix them. ( If you have a stand mixer, use the hook attachment)

3. Add egg, butter & oil.

4. Mix at low speed and allow them to mix well with the dry ingredients.

5. Combine evaporated milk, fresh milk and water and heat in the microwave for 45 seconds 

6. Add milk mixture to dough.

7. Once dough is wet from the milk mixture increase speed of mixer.

8. Allow mixer to knead the dough for at least 15 minutes.

9. Once done, place dough on bowl sprayed with oil and cover with cling wrap. (try to tuck the edges of the dough for a smooth surface).

10. Let dough rest for at least 1 hour or until it doubles in size.

Ok, at this point , after my dough doubled in size, I had to knead it by hand since it was quite sticky. maybe I placed too much milk. I kneaded the dough by hand, occasionally adding flour to prevent it from totally sticking in my hand. 

11. Cut the dough in desired size and cover the top with bread crumbs.

12. Let the dough rest again for at least another hour. ( again another boo-boo on my part, I just let my dough rest for 15 minutes... I was too excited to bake it.)

13. Pre heat over to 200C and bake pandesal for at least 10 - 15 minutes. 

I over baked my padesal since I like it a little crunchy on the outside.

So there you have it. Fresh hot, homemade pandesal. 

I think I'll try to do another batch next time. But I'll make sure this time I'll be a little more patient.

Another thing that made me want to bake pandesal is this.....

I finally took it out of it's hiding place and used it. So I guess this is going to be my new bestfriend... now, what should I name you?

Wishing Well

My aunt & I are starting a new project tomorrow....

We're building a well! Hope it turns out ok.

Will blog about it tomorrow and as we progress.

I'm excited...

[Japanese] Vocabulary - Insects

Today I'm learning about insects. In Japanese insects are called むし (mushi). Here are some of the common insects.

 かまきり (kamakiri)  MANTIS

 かぶとむし (kabutomushi)  BEETLE

 とんぼ　(tonbo)  DRAGONFLY

 くも (kumo)  SPIDER

 ちょうちょ (choucho)  BUTTERFLY

  あり (ari) ANTS

 せみ  (semi)  CICADA

　ゴキブリ　(gokiburi) COCKROACH

There are still other insects but for now, these are the ones that I'm trying to memorize.

[Japanese] Vocabulary - Colors

     I'm no expert. I'm still learning myself, but I also want to share the things that I learn. So, I'm going to post  Japanese stuff everyday. If you think there are some mistakes, feel free to correct me. (^_~).

For today, I'm learning about colors.

あか　(aka)    RED

あお　(ao)   BLUE

きいろ　(kiiro)   YELLOW

くろ　(kuro)   BLACK

しろ　(shiro)   WHITE

だいだいいろ(daidai iro)   ORANGE

(although the word "orenji" is more commonly used)

ピンク　(pinku)    PINK

ちゃいろ　(chairo)   BROWN

みどり  (midori)   GREEN

むらさき (murasaki)   VIOLET

I'll try to post other words or I might post sentence structure. If there are any mistakes, feel free to correct me. Have fun learning.

[Recipe] Brownie Cheesecake Bites

Although there was a "little" mishap, the end product still tasted good and I had to restrain myself from eating everything.

The original recipe is found on Laura Vitale's website. She is actually my favorite "chef/cook/baker". The recipes that she have on the website are so easy to follow.  She also has a youtube channel, so go subscribe.

Here are the things that you'll need:

2/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips/morsels

1/4 cup butter

2 eggs

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla (I omitted this since I don't have vanilla)

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

Cheesecake filling:

3 oz cream cheese (room temp)

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 small eggolk

Procedure: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line mini muffin pan. (I used the regular muffin pan)

3. Melt chocolate and butter. ( you can do this in the microwave or in the stove). Set aside.

4. Beat eggs and sugar until light and foamy. Add melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix well,

5. Add in cocoa powder, flour and salt. Blend together until no raw flour is visible.

6. With a spoon or ice cream scoop, fill in muffin cup about 2/3 and set aside.

7. Cream together the cream cheese, sugar and yolk.

8. With a spoon, drop a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture on top of the chocolate mixture.

9. Bake for 20 minutes if you're using mini muffin tins and a little longer if using the regular muffin tins. (This is where my "little" mishap happened. At the 2o minute mark, I checked to see if the muffins are done when I found out that the oven ran out of gas. Good thing, they were almost done, they just needed at least 5 more minutes so I left them inside the oven. When I took then out, the top kinda flopped but nevertheless, they tasted delicious.)

10. Let them cool completely and you can dust them with confectioner's sugar

Iya's version of Yesterday's Dream

My 3 year old cousin practicing for her singing contest. Although she still mumbles on some of the words, and some are her own "sounds like" words, she still memorized it in just a short time.

Enjoy...

What's in a Name?

I love to write and one of the hurdles that I usually encounter when making stories is naming the characters. I'm very picky when it comes to names. I want them to match the face that I have pictured on my head.

I don't know how it started but my fascination with making names is not only focused on the characters of the stories I write, but also with my cousins or my friends kids to my gadgets. Yes, I do name my gadgets. I have this belief that once you name your gadgets, you treat them with more care so there's less chance of them getting "destroyed" easily.

The very first name that I created was for the doll my mom gave me when I was in 5th grade. It was given to her by a foreigner she worked with. The name was a really long one and I don't know how I came up with it. "Maria Carmen Lainne Anne Dianne Marie Kirsten". Don't ask me how I call her coz I don't remember myself. Next was the "hotdog" body pillow my aunt made for me. "G-force". And no it wasn't shaped as a guinea pig. I loved watching the anime G-force.

The very first person I named was my cousin. She was the second "girl" in the family after me. I'm the eldest of  18 cousins and she was born 12/13 years after me so I was excited to finally have someone on my side. Her name's quite long and believe it or not she hates me for naming her. Hahaha. "Therese Georgene Rapunzel". The first one was after the saint, which was featured on a magazine I was reading when she was born. The second name is the combination of her father & mother's name. The last one was  supposed to be a joke. I did not know that my aunt included it until we saw her birth certificate.

After that, I made a few more names, for my stories that is. In college, my name making "intensified" coz I would make names of my "future kids" with my crushes. Other girls would write their names with the crushes family names, me I write my kids names. I also made a name for my bestfriend's "imaginary kid". "Rae Nickole" nicknamed "Raene". 

I have made quite a few names for my "kids" as well. I f you count it, it might be more than 20. However whenever I make names for my "imaginary kids", you would always find two names that I use frequently. Isabel & Gabriel.   I love these names. I've settled that one day, when I have my own kids, they will definitely have these names.

The most recent names I made was for my goddaughter and my baby cousin. My goddaughter's name was made way back in college when her mom was having a MAJOR crush on her dad. "Francine Christianne". My cousin's name I got from the Internet and from a Japanese drama I was watching at that time. "Aalliyah Reika".

                                   

I started naming my gadgets just recently. Most of my fangirl friends give names to their gadgets. At first I find it funny to name gadgets but when my laptop and Ipod video "died", I realized I have to name them so I would take care of them more. So now, my gadgets have names. My laptop's "Kin" because he's silver and kin is silver in Japanese. My ipod shuffle's "Sakura" coz she's pink and pink reminds me of cherry blossoms. My camera's "Sashii"coz shashin is picture in Japanese. My cellphone's "Kagami-chan", kagami is mirror in Japanese. My External HD is "Chiisa", chiisa is small in Japanese, my e-reader's "Yon-kun", it comes from the word yonde, meaning read, and my ipad's "Mado-chan", which means window.

Right now, I have two new Cabbage Patch dolls, well three actually but I gave the smallest one to my niece.  And they have the names of my "future" kids... "Shinichi Gabriel & Risako Isabel". I don't think I'll ever stop making names. Making names kinda makes me happy. What about you? What is your favorite name?