Foodie and others

I am blogging with a heavy heart. I am removing my ads for some undisclosed reason. Other bloggers may know the reason why, so I won't elaborate and dwell on it. It even came to a point wherein I wanted to shut down my blog but I've realized that it's not worth doing it. This blog was created for my love of writing so I wish to continue the so-called-battle, hehehe.

Today is Memorial Day in US so daddy is with me at home, doh technically he is still working. I am happy as usual because I get to spend extra time with him. During days where we can spend time more, we make it a point to really bond. We were both craving for something Italian and Mediterranean. In the morning, we dropped by at Bretto’s, it’s the only deli I know in our place which has a restaurant as well as a grocery with countless imported meats, steaks, cold cuts and cheese! I bought 200 grams of Mozzarella cheese and Cheddar cheese plus some cuts of Balony and nice warm bread with a weird shape. I hurriedly made our late breakfast,my own version of Submarine sandwich. It has several pieces of balony, onion rings, tomatoes, butter, mayo and layers and layers of melted Mozzarella and chedder cheese. It was heaven; I was able to make 5 servings of it. It was almost finished when I realized I forgot to put some ketchup on it. Darn! Anyhoo, it was still a great sandwich.

By afternoon, we decided to visit Molly Malones in Fields Avenue which offers international cuisine including Indian. We miss so much the Cheese Tosai we had at Little India. Tosai is a pan grilled Indian bread that tasted so good. It has melted cheese inside with different variety of dips. But this bread is not available locally, so we opted to buy Papad and Naan Bread instead.

Papad is a toasted flat crisp, pressed with mild Indian Spices. This particular bread is very tasty, distinctly Indian. The Naan is a round shape leavened grilled bread. For 40 pesos, its kinda pricey considering it has the same size and consistency as with the Shawarma bread but definitely taste better. Its grilled to perfection, comes with a garlic sauce dip and salsa. It can also be taken with mozzarella cheese or dip it with olive-basil-soysauce dip.

The small tortilla like is the papad and Naan is the Shawarma-like bread.


And oh I am so happy that our PSP actually worked for internet access via WIFI. I just tried it yesterday at home and I am using it tonight as well. See, I was able to even access my blog. :)





FOR THE SUCCEEDING PICTURE THAT I POSTED BELOW, I WOULD LIKE TO ISSUE A WARNING AS EARLY AS NOW…. VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Its not really yucky but some of you might not be used to seeing unusual procedures done to any human. Below is my brother’s hand after an operation he had these past weeks. A metal wire/stick was inserted inside his hand due to a broken and chipped hand bone with 4 or 5 stapler (it’s the term used as it looks like a stapler) in it. Its not really that clear coz he was just cleaning it when I took the picture, the betadine almost covered it.

xoxo,

Ace

Fall In Love with Cinnabon

Hubby just got back from his overnight stay in Manila and he brought me a yummy treat. He was bringing a box of Cinnabon Stix with cream cheese dip.  For dinner, I chowed down on three sticks right away. It helps that cream cheese dip was there since I am not really a fan of sweet treats. But Cinnabon was just so good that you can't really resist it.

Below are the Cinnabon Stix andCinna Packs perfect for lighter appetites. They are lightly dusted with sugar and Cinnabon's own Makara Cinnamon.




Next time, I would like to try the Caramel Pecanbon. I can actually imagine the warm cinnabon dough topped with pecans right in front of me.



I haven't done anything productive today. I've been thinking about possible opportunities to take, added to that, I've been preoccupied with my mom's upcoming surgery. I know everything would be okay. It's just that I am not used to see her helpless (coz she can be really hyper at times). I've been thinking about work also, on what's in store for us. Hay life... So how do I equip myself with the new task offered to us? I think as early as now (since it officially starts on June 1) I need to clearly define my attitude towards work. How will it affect my career and role in the company (not that I'm expecting a big change, okay?)

The way we think and the way we behave towards work can make a big difference. If we practice possitivity with every changes around us (including our current job) I bet we will be more happy and less whiny over things being implemented by our company. We all have our share of setbacks but then again with a positive  outlook, it will help us deal with it easily. All we need to do is to convince ourselves that we can actually do it. Positive thinking is a cliche nowadays ( specially when you talk about ramp down at work) but what can you do but to just count your blessings, that you are able to surpass challenges and everything is well. What can be worse, right?

So believe in yourself, awaken that passion, do some action and reach for your goal. :) You can do it, kid! Yes, you can do it, Ace!

xoxo,

Ace

Pictures Galore

It has been days seen I've last posted. I've been very busy beating a deadline and was always online most of the time just working. Nway's just so to reward myself for being kinda workaholic, I took time to enjoy my days off and acted as a dutiful wife, a cook and a housekeeper.

Below are the pictures I have taken over the past weekends. Not so clear though since they were only taken from my phone's camera.

My brother and his gf bought me a sushi mat since they knew that I love to make our own sushi and maki. I made a wonderful kani maki. They don't look perfect though hehehe

The "Talikogenics". I took my family for a visit to our Punta Verde lot, they are seen here touring the subdivision.

My future house. Kidding! I just love the green color of the house's facade. Owner of this house would be my future neighbor.

My folks at the subd's club house. Look at my pop's pose, its superman

The other day, we went to bretto's for breakfast. Its a deli store with a wide array of cold cuts and cheese. I bought my blue cheese-my fave. I tried most of their cheeses here.

Our order, hungarian sausages with their yummy potato salad-with beets, bacon chunks and a lot of spices.

Hash browns, anyone?

Did u know that Starbucks recently opened in SM Clark? Here's the proof.

Dad's Iced Mocha and my ever fave Iced green tea with java chips.

Before my day off ended, I took time to clean my cabinet. Just so to get rid of old bags, some were given to my mom and others need washing. Below are my favorite bags among my collection.

My Girly Coach bags which I haven't use yet and My nike's which I often use at work.

My Guess bag, not yet used. It has a tag still. I wonder when will I use it.

hope you enjoyed the pictures.

xoxo,

Ace

Wonderful day

I just had a wonderful night should I say, instead of day (coz i work in a gy shift). I came to work and went home with my hubby. It's been a while. I just miss driving to work and back home with him. Still GY is not a very nice sked for us, but it buy us more time to be together.

Before heading home, we decided to eat breakfast at Margaritaville. We had SOS (it's his fave), a hashbrown for me and two hot mugs of Swiss Miss hot chocolate. It was an ultimate american breakfast which we both enjoyed. *SOS is best served at Margaritaville instead of Rumpa. So for SOS lovers, go and visit margaritaville.

Upon arriving home, we decided to chill for a while instead of hitting the bed directly to get our much deserve sleep. We both decided to go online, I often tease him on who gets to connect first since my laptop is faster than his. Nyehehehe. Of course, daddy being a workaholic (really he is and he keeps on denying it) immediately signed on his business account to do some work and attend to his numerous business e-mails while i directly loaded up Youtube to watch the previous night's episode of Lobo. He can't really see and hear what I was watching since I had my headphones. till... DARN! I was crying my heart out just watching the night's episode. It breaks my heart to see Lyka and Nessa's scene and much more to see Papa Piolo begging Lyka to look at him. It made me feel so sad till I almost had hiccups due to heavy crying. Then daddy saw my tears... he told me not to watch Lobo anymore if it makes me sad. You see, he doesn't want to see me crying because even if its just a scene, I take it so seriously that I even sleep afterwards with a heavy heart.

Hay Lobo! Can't wait for Monday night's episode. Hehehe

Now since I am still on the SOS hype, allow me to share an uncomplicated recipe of SOS.

* SOS (an army's favorite)

What you need:
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cube beef bouillon
3 tsbp butter
salt to taste
pinch of ground black pepper
2 cups milk
1/3 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Toasted breads

Brown beef in butter on a large skillet over midium high heat. Stir in flour, bouillon, salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes until the flour is absorbed. Gradually stir in milk until thick and bubbly. Add Worcestershire. Allow all to simmer. Spoon it over your toasted bread and top with a sunny side up egg (optional). Guaranteed a hit for meat lovers and heavy breakfast eaters.

Since we are talking about meat, let me share a photo of grilled burgers we had in Boracay

My burger and dad's burger


Daddy's exaj big bite

xoxo

Ace

Let's talk about pasta, pansit, rice noodles and so on...

I suddenly felt the urge to blog about different pastas upon receiving an email from gara detailing the process in making your own pesto sauce. I love pesto, actually, I think I love all the possible sauces that can be mix with pasta.

I can't remember when my love for pasta started. All I know is I can eat a pasta with a plain sauce, without its trimmings.

My favorites include:

1. Sbarro's spinach lasagna and Baked Ziti - Sbarro's signature tomato sauce is to die for, though their white sauce is also good but you can never go wrong with their plain tomato Sauce. You can actually savor the goodness of their secret herbs and spices topped with Romano cheese. Yummy!

2. C Italian's Fettucine with Alfredo Sauce- it was the best alfredo sauce I have tasted.

3. Pizza Hut's pasta- If you are looking for a cheap treat which won't sacrifice good taste, you can head to Pizza hut. They make good fettucine with alfredo sauce and spaghetti bolognese. You can actually order a big serving of Spaghetti Bolognese for just a hundred bucks.

4. Siam House's Pad Thai: I can rave about their Pad Thai all night long. Whenever I am sad and don't have the appetite to eat, hubby would suggest that we go to Siam House to get my fix of Pad Thai. And just like magic, everything turns out fine. Their pad thai is so rich and spicy. Maybe dry for others but just enough for me. I love it with lots of peanuts, shrimp plus extra spicy sauce.

5. Pasta Aligue of Northern Brew- loaded with cholesterol but guaranteed to be a good choice when dining.

Meatballs Spaghetti of Sbarro


Lets talk about different Pancit this time. Pancit or pansit (and my friends and I call it chinese, hehehe) is define in Wikipedia as a stir fried noodle dish common in the Philippines (I strongly agree!), though it has a chinese origin. The word pancit was derived from the Hokkien word pian i sit.

The most famous pancit would have to be the Pancit Guisado. This pansit is a staple meal in our dining table whenever there is a celebration. My mom cooks mean pansit. They would even hire her to cook pansit whenever there's a celebration within our clan (mostly every birthdays)

Other varities of pansit are:

1. Pancit Palabok/Luglog (in Pampanga) - I love Susie's palabok

2. Pancit Malabon- its the marinara version of pansit palabok hehehe

3. Pancit Habhab- from Lucban Quezon, this i want to try.

4. Pancit Molo- there's actually no pansit here. Just clear chicken broth with wontons. Hubby's aunt in Manila cooks the best Pancit Molo. This is a good substitute for chicken soup.

5. Batchoy- I don't like this. Innards doesn't appeal to me.

6. Pancit Canton-probably the most famous pansit which with its instant pancit canton counterpart.

7. Pancit Lomi- I dont have the guts to eat this particular pansit. I am just so scared. It looks like... nevermind. Create your own imagination.

8. Pancit Sotanghon-made of cellophane noodles.


Pancit Palabok


Other Varieties of Pancit


I have also included a recipe of the Pancit molo. This is courtesy of Puto Pinoy blog.

Ingredients:

2 pcs crushed garlic
1/4 kg ground pork
1 pc chicken breast
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 medium-sized onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic head, crushed and fried
1 tbsp ginger, cut into strips
spring onions, cut into rings
3 pcs chicken cubes
1 liter water
black pepper for seasoning
cooking oil
fish sauce to taste


Utensils:

cauldron
wooden spoon or ladle
aluminum bowl
stove


Procedure:

Put all the ingredients (ground pork, onions and 1 tbsp of fish sauce) together in an aluminum bowl.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly with the help of a wooden spoon. The mixed ingredients will serve as fillings of the molo wrapper.

Put a spoonful of the filling into each piece of molo wrapper. Make as many as 20 pieces of wrapped molo. Set them aside while you prepare the broth for the pansit molo.

Heat a little amount of cooking oil in a pan and saute garlic, ginger and onions. Stir the ingredients well.

Next, add the remaining filling. Stir ingredients again.

Pour one liter of water slowly into the sauteed ingredients. Stir ingredients well and then cover the pan. Let boil fpr 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, put the wrapped molo one by one into the broth. Do this carefully so that the wrapped molo will not stick together. Season broth with black pepper.

Add spring onions and fried garlic to the broth. Stir lightly. Reduce heat once the pieces of wrapped molo are fully immersed into the broth.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Pancit Molo


Before closing my posting for tonight, I would like to add my don'ts when blogging. Dont/never blog about work, your leaders, or your colleagues, specially if your contacts are mostly from your company, that is if you dont want to get in trouble. Guys, get real. It is the age where everything is ruled by the Internet. Anyone can have access to your blog, so be safe than sorry.

xoxo

Ace

Ishkeyri.....

Let me share something kinda eerie that has been happening to me for about a week. I've been having this strange feeling of being strangled. It happens every 1 am onwards. I feel that I am always running out of air, I would then just walk around and take a deep breath in between. Just last night, I told my friend that I keep on having this feeling that someone/something is trying to choke me. She said that I need to offer a prayer which I did. I've come to the decision that I will also try to trade place with my seatmate. Just to see if everything would be okay.

I've been keeping tab of time, 1 am is nearing and I was observing, till I totally lost track of it. I've noticed that its already 1:22 am, no choking sensation or whatsover. What can u say about that??? Isn't spooky?

I have a history of ghostly encounter in the night shift years ago. There would be times that someone would pass by and hold my hair, it will sometimes pull it and when I look back, all I see is a fading shadow of a girl in white. There was even this incident when my brush was missing, a big roller brush take note. Then hours would pass by, I would just feel a pricking sensation on my butt, to see that I've been sitting on my brush.... miraculously. Other encounters happened, I can't barely keep tab. Till I finally transferred to the morning shift and stayed there for 4 yrs. Everything was perfect. No eerie events. And now that I am back in GY, has that mysterious being resurfaced? I've heard few days ago that there's an entity that has been touching hairs, and they happen to be located near my pod. geezzzzz poltergeist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a lighter note. I was surfing on different products of ilog maria that I am planning to purchase online. I read this on our forum and it was highly recommended. They have great products that can boost your immune system.

Currently, I am devotee of honey. I mix one spoonful of it in my water. I am loving the ritual and hope that it would really help me fight any possible sickness brought about by my lack of sleep. For honey users, I say Sue Bee is the best.

Below are the benefits of honey:

* When eaten daily, pure honey will reduce your body's susceptibility to infections.

* Many doctors recommend equal parts of honey, lemon and whiskey as an extremely effective cough syrup.

* Because of honey's fructose content, many claim it is a cure for a hangover.

* Sore throats-- Swallowing a teaspoon of honey may soothe a sore throat or cough.* Boost your daily supply of antioxidants by eating honey.

* If you're feeling tired and need a boost of energy, stir a spoonful of honey into a glass of water or add honey and fresh fruit to yogurt for a power-packed snack!

* Honey is a great source of vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and pantothenic acid.

xoxo

Ace

I'm back!

I am currently watching Lobo while surfing and chatting with my bestest bud updating her with the show. I just feel so giddy for iv been anticipating this particular scene from the show. Lyka is finally morphing into a wolf! for fanatics, you may want to watch the movie Blood and Chocolate. Click here for the synopsis and some good spoilers. Blood and Chocolate (2007) - Synopsis.

You know that yummy latino guy in Unfaithful, he happens to be the leader of the stylish wolves in the movie BC. Here's a cover photo:

See, (non existent reader), I've mentioned about the shake that I planned to make this morning. i did it! it was heaven for me but yucky for my brother who tasted it. I think it was a success, my very own shake, Ace's shake (inspired by Lyka's shake). It has one whole cucumber in it, a whole carrot and half apple. No sugar. No guilty feeling here. I also had a weird lunch today, my shake and my steamed kamote ala gretch. :)

My shake: