hearts books hearts food

More Julia Quinn!

2008-09-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

I had so much expectations for this EATM (eat me? ha!). One, I just finished Splendid which was truly that, splendid. Second, when I read the blurb a couple of months ago, I was very intrigued since the plot is one of my all time favorites- reunited lovers. It started out good but near the end, I was all, " Get together already!!!"

BTTS on the other hand, just straightforward fluff.

Of guilty feelings, great BFF & amazing read

2008-08-23T01:26:00.000-07:00

First, AAAARGH! Feeling really guilty about something and just had to let it out. Never again. NEVER!

Hookay, that felt goood. Sorry, just had to let it out.

Now, onto good things: my super friend (hee) Leng sent me several books by Julia Quinn (Leng, kulang pa! :P) One of them is SPLENDID and I love, love, love it! Stayed up reading until three in the morning even if I had to wake up at 6am, which I did but it turned out I didn't need to and I wasn't angry about the very little sleep I had because I got to sleep again immediately and I still had that happy feeling left over from reading this book! That was mouthful! And I didn't have a single drop of caffeine today! Woo! I'm not making any sense! Seriously, amazing book. Go! Buy it! Read it! Love it!

Sweet & sour 'chicken' balls

2008-08-19T01:56:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I bought this from an asian supermarket along with a canned braised seitan. I seldom come across veggie meat that I like so rarely buy them. I usually stick to good, old, dependable tofu.

I was excited to try the seitan first because I made it myself once about year ago and I loved it. Yuck, was I disappointed with this canned stuff. I even marinated it in soy sauce and calamansi and cooked it a la Pinoy beefsteak with crunchy red onion rings. Sigh. This made me hesitant to try the chicken balls.

Middle of last week, I was craving for a sweet & sour something and quickly remembered about my, erm, balls! I have little idea of what's in the sauce so I asked the help of Big Sis to ask her friend for the ingredients. The friend, a.k.a. Big Bird who is supposed to be a good cook but is a kind of a wise-ass, emailed a recipe so vague one wonders if he's a lazy emailer or just plain selfish. Of course I could just have googled the recipe myself. In the end, I copied a simple one from a borrowed "Everything Chinese Cookbook". It turned out kinda okay even if I wasn't liking the taste of the veggie balls too much.

Sweet & Sour Chicken Balls

Happy 1st Shelfariversary

2008-08-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

Just saw on my shelfari page that I have been a member for a year now! I know it has a widget thingy that can be installed here but it's not installing. Kainis.

I've been reading most of my life and I have known about audiobooks but I've never listened to one. I have been really curious about it and wanted to try listening to one only to learn they're expensive compared to good oldfashioned books, made of paper! That I can read! Anyhoo, the other day at SEP's bulletin board, somebody posted about a free (woo!) podcast from author Karen Marie Moning. I've never read anything from her although I've been hearing good things. I think this is a good way to be introduced to her works. So far I have downloaded until chapter 9. I have listened until chapter 6 and so far, so good. I am always wary of paranormal stuff, only delved into some wizardry and vampire stories. This one is new to me, about faes or fairies or something. Kinda intriguing. The voice talent, she is good. I just had a little bit of problem with the guy voice, it sounded like an old lady at first, I almost giggled because it was kinda absurd. But I got used to it. I'm really excited to finish it! Who knew I'd be "reading" from my iPod?

I was going for 'Amelie'*, but my haircutter went, "Ay, mali!"

2008-08-11T23:36:00.000-07:00

*zee french movie
**posted this in multiply 06/08/2007
I had a haircut weeks ago but I am just starting to like it. Three weeks ago I hated it.
I told the Haircutter a.k.a. Rita Teems, I just wanted a trim and perhaps some bangs for a new look. I even showed her a picture from a magazine. It was a simple enough haircut, pretty straight forward with what I wanted to happen. Having had my hair cut by Rita Teems before, I was extra careful to tell her that I just basically want a trim. I specified, "1 inch lang po," knowing very well for her 1 inch = 3 inches. I swear. This time I'm confident that the eventually 3" trim would be enough length.
Rita Teems got really excited with my choice 'do. "Uso yan ngayon! Yang mga bob na yan!" Well, I see celebrities going for that look, but I didn't want mine exactly like the celebs' hair. I just think the long front look they have now is very much cumbersome. Kung ganun din lang haircut, wag na lang, magpapahaba na lang ulit ako. I tried to explain to her in detail what I want in my haircut. Okay daw. Gets daw nya. Basta daw i-modify nya na parang kay Mariel.
Ha? Mariel? "Sino ho si Mariel?"
"Yung nasa Wowowee! Naku maganda yang cut nya...,"then Rita Teems proceeded to elaborately describe the haircut. I had a vague idea of the look even if I hadn't seen Mariel lately, but it was definitely NOT the look I was going for. I told her that. She assured me,"Okay yun! Yun yang sinasabi mo. Bob. Maikli sa likod, then pahaba sa unahan."
"Hindi po ganung klaseng bob.Yung kagaya po nung dating haircut nyo sa kin, pero may bangs. Eto ho yung picture, o."
"Oo, yan na un! Kaya lang mas mahaba yung unahan."
I was getting ready to bolt this time. "E Rita Teems, gusto ko ho me bangs. Kung mahaba ho yung sa unahan, e di walang bangs yun." By this time I notice that it was SHE who was starting to get exasperated. Am beginning to wonder why she was so adamant that I have the Mariel haircut.
"Anak, mukhang maganda yang sina-suggest ni Rita Teems." Aaaaugh! It was my Mom! Rita Teems is looking very smug.
"Eee, gusto ko lang no fuss na buhok, mukhang kelangan ko pang laging ipitan yung ganung klaseng buhok.Trim lang, with bangs." Period.
This time RitaTeems agreed. I was still apprehensive. But to make the long story short, she cut my hair. It wasn't quite what I was going for, but close enough. A few tweaks here and there, and I would love it. But that was before she put bangs and blow-dried my hair...
WTF?!?! I looked like I was in the eighties! The bangs were a disaster! Parang teased! Good God, I wanted to weep.
"Ayan! Ganyang-ganyan yung style nung kay Mariel!" Rita Teems said while still styling my hair. By this time I'm beginning to loath Mariel.
"Uhm, ganyan talaga hitsura ng bangs ko?" I asked gently.
"Ay, oo 'pag ganito brush gamit mo," she explained while showing the small round brush. I was slightly relieved since I thought the bangs were going to be like that forever. Don't want that. I'll just shampoo my hair again as soon as we get home after this and the bangs will just be a memory.
Still apprehensive with my cut, I bid her goodbye. Her goodbye was,"Sige. Bukas makikita mo ang buhok nyo ni Mariel." Sheesh.
The nightmare for the day was't over. Instead of going straight home, my mom wanted to dine out. I never felt stupider in a haircut as I did while eating at Don Ricardo's. Thankfully, there weren't many people there that night.
I didn't get to see mariel on TV the next day because it was a Sunday, so no Wowowee. But the nightmare continues. You see, this was the day the supermarket incident happened, the one I wrote about in my previous blog entry.Now I felt worse, guilty AND stupid(if not more so). And to top it off, I discovered that my little cousin Kulit, whom I always teased because of her bangs, all along had the same haircut I now have.
It was days before I finally got to see Mariel and her hair on TV. I noticed something immediately which was voiced out by my Mom: it looked NOTHING like my haircut.

Gulity feet have got no rhythm..

2008-08-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

*posted this in my multiply acct 05/24/2007
As if I wasn't guilty enough...
Last sunday, while at the local supermarket, I ran into a sort of family friend. I only know her (and her husband) through my parents and some relatives. I have met her only about a couple of times, but my impression is that she is a very nice lady. In fact, I can say I genuinely like her and her husband. Can I add here that probably they like me too since the couple has expressed their desire to make me their daughter-in-law? (hwehe, assuming) Well, I've never met their son or anything, but just based on the short time I've known them, they would most likely be ideal in-laws.He he.
Okay, back to last sunday...after the nice lady, itago na lang natin sa pangalang Mrs. J, said "hi" to me in front of the dairy section and we parted ways, we ran into each other again on the check-out counter. I was in front of her in the line. She was with another lady, to whom Mrs. J introduced me to as her future manugang, to the confusion of the other lady. Wooshoo, nahiya naman daw ako,so I just gave her an embarassed grin. After the usual chitchat (how're your parents, work, etc...), she then said, "Naku, natalo si **** sa eleksyon."
I kind of expected that topic. "Oo nga po, eh. Well, tanggap na naman nila yung results."
She then blurted out with a chiding grin, "Siguro hindi mo binoto, ano?"
Okay, clearly, she was kidding around, making light of the fact that a certain someone we know who has a close connection with me, a someone whom she was expecting me to "support" in the recent elections, lost. Well, she expected wrong. To her apparent surprise, I said (with conviction pa!), "Hindi po!" Then I went on to explain why I did not vote for the said person. While my mouth was doing the explaining, it was as if I was having an out of the body experience. Nanlamig ako. Nanindig ang mga balahibo ko. All I could think was, "F***eeeeeers! God, kill me NOW!"
Obviously I am suffering from guilt. But was I guilty for not voting for that certain someone, whom I shall now refer to as Unripe? No. From the moment Unripe expressed the desire to run for a seat in the local election, I felt that that person for me is not yet ready for such an undertaking that requires more experience. I have just recently come to terms with myself on heeding gut instinct, and in this case my gut says no to Unripe. Normally, I wouldn't have any problems letting people know my stand on this issue, but I decided to keep this to myself. The reason being the person who spawned Unripe to the world is dear to me and my family. I know what she has been going through the whole election and it is not pretty. I didn't want to add to her problems, so I just kept quiet (although eventually i would share this to my family and two close friends). I never said anything on who I was voting for, save for my choices for senators. Now the election is (mostly) over, I still stand by my votes, whether my choices won or not. But seeing Tita Tita (mother of Unripe) around, I feel a small speck of guilt. I had no idea that the guilt, no matter how small, held a power on my conscience. And that power took hold on the conversation at the supermarket.
I was almost finished with my brief explanation to Mrs. J when I was thankfully interrupted by the cashier who started adding up my purchases. There was a small talk about my purchases, then upon payment I said goodbye to Mrs. J and her companion. As I headed home on a tricycle, I was reflecting on my mortified reaction at the supermarket due to the fact that Mrs. J is a friend of Tita Tita and Mr. and Mrs. J are supporters of Unripe. Patay.

whoa!

2008-08-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

I forgot about this blog! Thanks to Ces, my lone reader (lone member of my fanclub, as I am the lone member of hers, hehe), I have unearthed it again. Will do my best to post some of my multiply posts here, just for her. Don't want to disappoint my peeps(er, peep?).

Note to self:

2007-09-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

*if you're going to create a blog, try to update and post something once in a while.

Wow,the gym thing seems to be working. I am now in my second week. Not bad. The aerobic exercises are actually fun. This week though, I go to the gym in the evenings. Woke up late on Tuesday and I decided to go there later that day. Not a brilliant idea. The gym was packed whereas in the mornings the number of poeple is just arond 10, sometimes less than that. I had to pass by the place where most of the msclebond guys are in the barbells area...ewww. Dear lord, haven't they heard of deodorants?! Seriously. I wasn't even that close to those guys. More that a couple of meters away, at least. Never going there again. That area is not that smelly in the mornings? I'll just do weight training next week in the mornings. I'll stick to aero this time.
I tried to weigh myself yesterday at my granda's house, but her weighing scale has some serious problems. It's in her bathroom and whenever I step on it, it gives a different weight everytime. The difference is a lot. About 5 pound average in the difference, at least.

Am trying to finally be a full-pledged vegetarian. So far, so good. I've sworn off fish and seafoods. I actually cooked spring rolls, and my omnivore Mom and Dad who has a tastebud of a ten-year old both loved it and never suspected it to be meat-free. It is actually hard to fool them into eating my vegetarian cooking since they're kinda prejudiced if it hasn't any dead animal in it. I succeed in making them taste it sometimes, but they see me preparing and cooking the food, and their brains are wired to think food - meat = bleah. Well, its up to me to jst convince them otherwise, right? I mean I got them at spring rolls that's a huge step right there.

Here goes...

2007-09-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! First blog entry!

I'll start with an announcement that I have started going to the gym just yesterday!

**crickets**

Okay, nothing spectacular for some but this is a GINORMOUS deal for me. I have been at least 35 lbs overweight for the past six years and it's high time I do something about it. The turning point was actually on June 4th this year, on my birthday. What was a rather dull birthday was turned memorable when my own mother's gift to me was a weighing scale. That said a lot. That very day I gave up eating meat, er, red meat, er, every animal except fish and other seafoods. I'll work on being truly vegetarian later. Small steps, people! Vowed to eat lots more fruits and veggies. And I did just that! Now on my third month, I actually lost 11 pounds!

But of course, eating right just isn't enough. I noticed as I slowly shed those pounds, my arms, flabby and saggy to begin with, ended up a little saggier. Madonna, I'm truly not. Same goes for my tummy. And the cellulites all over my thighs? Eeewww. Worse than ever. A friend, whose family owns a badminton court, invited me to play with her. Riiiight. Don't do sports. Watch them? Sports with hunky players: yes, please. Play them? A resounding NO!...unless i get to play with the hunky players? Ha! Most probably not. Fortunately (hehe), this friend also sucks at badminton, and since she also wants to lose weight we decided to sign up for aerobics and weight training.

So. Yesterday was the first day, and aside from that awful moment with me dropping my blood sugar level and my now aching body, I say, not bad. Kinda fun muttering those expletives during those god-awful crunches and lunges. Well, we'll see. We'll see.