Monthly Archives: September 2010

Being in-between jobs can be fun too

I have been out of work for some months now. Finally I gathered the courage to get out of my comfort zone and I did. Honestly, it was also triggered by a conflict at work with one colleague. Then, the rest just followed.

I admit that sometimes I do miss waking up in the wee hours of the morning to prepare for work, but on the hand, I would not trade what I have for now with anything else. Oh, yes and hubby is also busy looking out for places to go to and is already busy booking short vacations for the next 6 months or so.

I think he has already Italy, Malta and Costa del Sol in mind. Italy is booked, Malta and Costa, well, can still be changed. Depends on the availability of a Marriott Vacation Club Resort in the area. Time frame is also already fixed. Hopefully, I would still be off work by the time all these planned vacations take place.

So, aside from household chores and some errands that has been waiting for me since more than a week now, I haven’t been busy with anything else. Oh, I did catch up on my reading and cooking, trying out new recipes. I have also been quite busy tinkering with my Nokia N97. I got the new phone early this year and haven’t really fully maximized on using if not all, at least most of its outstanding features. Getting all the applications available for my phone unit via OVI or downloading it in my computer and then installing it manually in my phone is like a snap of my fingers for me. Too easy, I tell you. This new generation phones are really getting better and better. Organizer, Internet, Navigation (GPS) and normal telephoning, sure. But, having Psiloc World traveller, for example, or using Fring with it gives me the kick… hehe. Facebook, YouTube and the likes i have tried by just connecting via Wlan. Having several messenger features registered and open at the same time is something i just found out some time ago. For example, I can be online in my
yahoo messenger, msn messenger, googletalk, skype and Twitter at the same time via Fring.com with my phone. Oh yeah, getting radio transmitted to the mobile phone is quite common, but to use the phone as Transmitter to your car radio is really interesting. If I don’t happen to like listening to the radio in my car, I just switch on to the correct wavelength and transmit all my favorite songs saved in my phone and listen to it via the car stereo speakers. Cool, right. Although, I guess some of you have already a car stereo that can also play mp3 files by just inserting a usb stick to it. I do have an old car and I neither have iPod nor Mp3 player in my car, so I have to have make do with the best that I got, right?! I am really happy with it though. I couldn’t wish for a better toy for now than what I have.

I’m happily tinkering my phone, for now.

Photos from gsmarena.com

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Just getting rid of the virus, oh, not in my computer though

I should probably stop FBe-ing and should start doing some real work, but I keep getting sidetracked by messages from my chat board. Darn, I should close it now. Anyway, haven’t had much fun these last couple of days since I have been down with the Flu. I think it may have been caused by a virus that I caught from one of the party guests, but what the heck. At least I am feeling much better now. I’m just worried that the virus would catch hubby as as well.

Anyway, now that I am feeling much better, I decided to get up early and start disinfecting the whole house. Toilet and bath, kitchen bedroom and living and dining room. Changed all the bed sheets with fresh ones and towels as well. The trash has to be thrown out. I have to make sure that not a single tissue paper would be left behind. The bins themselves has to be sprayed with disinfectant as well. I don’t have OCD but better to be safe than sorry. Actually, I am in the middle of this overhaul at home now. I just sat down in front of my laptop again to rest for a while. Of course I said to myself that I would only sit down to rest for 30 minutes, but as I have mentioned earlier, FB is keeping me from the more important tasks at hand. Oh well, blame it on someone or in this case something else, hehehe.

Picture from Common colds slideshow…

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Parties and events in Frankfurt am Main

Hubby and I got invited to a friend’s birthday party. It was a blast. We got home after midnight and I fell flat on my bed even before I could get out of my clothes. Well, it’s not uncommon knowledge that I just fall on my bed without changing into my pyjamas ;). I tell you it has happened several times before. Especially when we have an event coming. But it was the first time I got home drunk and fell on my bed immediately. I found out the following morning that I walked up to the flat barefoot after our neighbor brought my step-ins over to our front step, buwahahahaha!

The following day, Sunday came and went without me noticing anything at all. I stayed in bed the whole morning. I only got up to prepare some lunch for hubby and myself. Even then, I felt like a walking Zombie from the bedroom to the kitchen. Hovering around there preparing for something to eat. After having lunch, I immediately went to our sofa in the living room, covered myself with my fleece blanket and fell asleep like a baby. I woke up around 7 pm feeling hungry, thirsty and disoriented. Oh my! The effect of drinking Tequila sporadically is terrible. This means I should really rather do it more often, lol!

If my memory serves me right, back in the old days when I used to go out each night after work, I never had any hangover after. No vomiting, no dizziness, nothing. Nil! Zit! Nada! Which is actually the main reason why I like Tequila much better than any other drink. But, I used to drink it almost every night then. Furthermore, I haven’t had a shot of Tequila for more than a year. Last time I had more than 1 shot of tequila was in August last year. I guess, that’s the reason why the alcohol went up to my head faster the drink going down, hahaha!

Anyway, at the party, everybody had fun. The kids, the young ones and the young at heart, too. One could see it in their faces and party behavior. Food was plenty and the drinks was just pouring. For a while there, it felt like there was an alcohol spring somewhere near the area.

It was actually a surprise party for Mr. Ballmaier. A party planned by his wife Marie who is a very good friend of mine. Of course there were several of us who were busy before the event. Decorating the hall, cooking and transporting the drinks. There you go, I must admit that the drinks did not actually come from a spring, hehehe.

At the end of the day, it was all worth it. The facial expression of the birthday celebrant as he came into the hall was that of real surprise and he was really touched by the gesture. All in all, the event was a success.

Next one to be ready for is the “Philippines Got Talent” in Frankfurt, Saalbau Volkshaus Enkheim on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 5:00 PM. This is not a private party but another event of the Philippine Mission Charity Foundation, e.V. (PMCF) in Frankfurt. It’s time to show off your hidden talents guys! Come and share it with us and in doing so, win some interesting prizes. Willing applicants can already register through any PMCF officer.

Well, that’s it for now. I will be busy with helping in the preparations for the said event. So, forgive me if this blog will be sleeping again for some. 🙂

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Puto Maya

I’ve been craving for this Filipino sweet rice delicacy for some days now. My problem is I’ve never done this myself before. My mom used to serve this for our merienda or breakfast way back when I was a child. Yes, this rice recipe, like most of the Filipino rice delicacies in the Philippines, can be eaten for breakfast or merienda (snack).

Thing is, may it be for between meals (merienda=snack), or for breakfast, I always had this with the good old sikwate (hot chocolate drink). Perhaps, later on in my growing up years, I also had this with ice cold coke. Well, that’s how kids are, always experimenting.

Apropos, experimenting. So I have been craving for the “puto-maya” of my mom. Thing is, she now lives thousand of miles away from me. So unlike before, now I very seldom have the pleasure of eating this delicacy. Nowadays, I just content myself to eating puto maya at parties where I get invited to. Of course, provided that a nice Pinay would prepare it… hehehe.

Today, I couldn’t help myself anymore though. I finally decided that I would experiment myself. I went out to the nearest grocery and got the ingredients that I didn’t happen to have in my pantry.

I need:

500 grams pilit (sticky / glutinous rice)
3 cups coconut milk
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup of ginger sliced thinly

I guess there are several ways to cook puto maya. But I remember that my mom used to make it the complicated way. Oh, you have to understand that for me, if one is cooking using several pots and pans, then I assume it is already a complicated recipe that he/she is preparing. The way i cook my stuff, is to heat the pan, put the first batch of ingredients which is normally composed of onions, tomatoes and garlic. Saute them and put the rest in, whatever they may be. Most of the time they turn out okay :). Alas, this simply won’t work with the Puto Maya.

I first prepared the rice. Rinse the rice with cold water. I did this two times. I don’t know why, but I just seem to remember that when I was young I was always told to rinse it twice. Or at least until the water is not cloudy anymore. Later on, I found out that the more you wash the rice, the less nutritious it becomes. Or so, somebody told me again. But again, somebody said that this is only true to enriched American rice. Anyway, I digress.

I cooked the rice separately. On another pot, I poured in the coconut milk keeping it to boil. Slowly i poured in the sugar while continuosly stirring the boiling coconut milk. Once it became sticky, I also put in the ginger strips that I prepared. I continued stirring it until the mixture turned a bit brownish. At this time, the rice already cooked, is slowly cooling down a bit. I scooped  it out of the pot and transferred it to the coconut mixture. I folded and mixed like beating a batter.  While doing this, I could already smell the rich aroma of rice and ginger. I took it out of the stove. Let cool down a bit. Then I started molding using one of my dessert bowls. Since i don’t have banana leaves, I had to content myself with eating it directly from the breakfast plate. Oh, I almost forgot to take a photo of my creation. To make it look more presentable, I put in two fresh basil leaves.

A few minutes later, hubby came into the kitchen sniffing. He actually said, the blending smell of the ginger, coconut milk, rice and basil made him feeling hungry. I hurriedly poured him a cup of fresh hot coffee with cream but no sugar since the puto maya to my standard is already sweet enough. Well, actually, I drink my coffee most of the time black so it goes well with the puto maya. No hot chocolate for me today, as I am following a strict diet regime. Maybe, tomorrow morning for breakfast I can have my puto maya with my hot chocolate.

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These boots are made for walking…

It’s great to be back. I was up in the Austrian Alps. I didn’t have internet connection for one whole week. Okay, I know that even up there one can stay connected online. Heck, perhaps even at the peak of the highest mountain in the whole world, one can still be connected to the WWW nowadays. Thanks to the people who contribute to the advancement of technology. My being offline though for the whole week was actually by choice. It was a chance to be reunited with mother Nature. A time to experience life again without any phone calls, emails. The chance to embrace the primitive way of life of our ancestors. It went okay in the beginning. At least until one day, hubby and I lost our trail and ended up at a cliff 1889 meters high. Then we decided GPS is important. It took us longer to get down. At which point, my right knee was already getting really uncomfortable. I could hardly bend it. Imagine going downhill without bending your knees. Terrible. We finally managed to find the clearing.

It was fun. Everyday we took different trails. Each day was an adventure on its own, depending on how difficult the trail was. Really, every trail was different from the other. From light and fun to hard and adventurous. The trail where I had difficulty with my knee was not the hardest, but it was the highest and longest trail we took. It felt like the wandering would take forever that day. Amazing how one could walk for hours and still after some point you find that you only walked 300 meters away from the last point. Of course, when one is suffering from discomfort and pain, then this happens which was for me the case. But, in the end it was also a very good trail.

We also took a really light trail, where we just went through the towns and the altitude of the place was not too high. It was in this wander trail where I found my boots. Two, even.

I saw the high cut soft leather boots from the window outside the shop. I went in, tried a pair on and I fell in love with them. It was a bit too much for my normal price range, but they are really good and comfortable. I decided to close an eye and paid for the pair.

As I was on my way out of the shop, a low cut pair of boots caught my attention. I thought, nah, maybe I don’t need it anymore. I went already way too much my price limit with the other one. I sure should not look at more. But then hubby urged me to try it as well. See, my problem is that I always have a difficult time shopping for shoes. I could go from shop to shop the whole day and simply come home empty handed. Hubby knows this already and he always thinks that if I find something which I really like, I should already grab it immediately and not think twice about it. Otherwise, If I leave it overnight and then go back another day, I would find that the thing is already sold out and would end up getting something that I only half wanted. Of course, each time this happens, I always reprimand myself. I don’t know why, but It keeps happening to me anyways.

Oh, by the way, I don’t plan, of course to use any of these two new boots for wandering, hehehe. For that, a special one was ordered. It actually didn’t matter to me before what shoes I wear for wandering as long as they were comfy enough to walk in for more then 3 hours. But, I soon realized that if one is really serious about wandering, then one also needs to be properly equipped for it. Since I got my wandering shoes more than a year ago, I never had problems with feet nor ankles. Not to mention if we have to go through really rough trails, I am confident enough that I wouldn’t just slip or loose my balance. I tell you, it pays! Curoious? Here they are. Not so impressive or extravagant looking. But they are my three favorites at the moment.

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Pag-ibig:pinag halong sarap, sakit, tamis at pait!

Kausap ko lang ang kaibigan ko kaninang madaling araw. Nag long distance call siya. Umiiyak. Nalulungkot. Broken hearted daw siya. Nagpa kalasing siya, ngunit kinaumagahan ay ganun pa rin daw ang sakit na nardarama niya.

Kung naiintindihan ko daw ba ang nararamdaman niya. Oo naman. Alam ko yan. Sino ba naman ang hindi dumaan sa tamis at sakit na dulot ng pag ibig. Naaalala ko tuloy nung kabataan ko pa. Nagmahal din ako ng todo. Higit pa sa pagmamahal ko sa sarili ko. Higit pa sa naramdaman kong pag mamahal para sa pamilya ko. Ultimo career ko at sideline na negosyo ay pinakawalan ko alang-alang sa pagmamahal ko sa isang lalaki na akala ko ay habang buhay kong makakasama, sa hirap at sa ginhawa, sa tuwa at sa saya, sa drama at sa komedya. Siyempre, dahil sa hindi naman isang pelikula ang buhay ko, hindi ito nag tapos sa “happily ever after” ikanga sa libro ng mga kuwentong engkantasya.

Pero, masarap din namang balikan ang mga masasayang alaala ng pag-iibigan na iyon. Mga araw na tila ayaw na naming magkahiwalay. Mga gabi na malamig at tila ba sa haplos ng kanyang mga kamay sa aking palad ay napag iinit niya na ang aking buong katauhan. Mga malalagkit na tinganan na parang nagdadala ng awit at sumasayaw ang aming damdamin sabay sa tugtog ng musika ng pag ibig. Mga panahon na lahat ng problema ay nahaharap namin ng buong tapang dahil sa alam namin na anjan lang ang bawat isa sa aming tabi. Kagabay sa paglutas ng anumang suliranin na aming hinaharap.
May mga araw din na parang masikip ang mundo namin at tila ba gusto kaming paghiwalayin ng tadhana. Lahat kino kontra ang aming pag iibigan. Lahat ayaw na magkasama at amging masaya kami. Kahit ano mang pilit namin pa ipakita sa kanila at ipadama ang aming tunay na nararamdaman para sa isa’t-isa ay siya namang pag sara nila sa pinto sa aming harapan. Na waring pinapahayag na ayaw nilang makita at maintindihan ang aming pagmamahalan. Sa mga panahong iyon ay lalong nagtibay ang aming pag ibig. Lalong kaming naging masigasig sa isa’t-isa. Walang bagyong sumalnta sa amin na hindi namin kinaya. Hanggang sa isang umaga ay gumunaw ang mundo naming dalawa.

“Oo” sagot ko sa aking kaibigan. “Alam ko na lahat yan dahil pinag daanan ko din yan”. Sister, ang maipapayo ko lang sa iyo, kahit na ilang bote ng Tequila Cuervo ang banatan mo, kahit pa magpaka lunod ka sa Johnny Walker at Jim Beam o magsunog ka ng iyong baga sa Fundador at Tanduay Rhum, sa pag gising mo kinabukasan, hindi mo pa rin maaalis ang sakit ta pait ng iyong nararamdaman sa ngayon.

Panahon at pani-bagong pag kakataon ang nakatulong sa akin sa pag limot ng sakit. Pero ang peklat ng sugat ko ay hindi naalis sa aking puso. May mga araw pa ring dumadaan na nahahaplos ko ang malali na marka ng sugat sa aking damdamin.

Sa laking malas, ang ganitong klaseng peklat ay hindi naaalis ng cebo de macho. Hindi rin ito natatakpan concealer make up at lalong walang bisa ang whitening creams dito. Kahit mga Doktor ay hindi kayang tanggalin ang peklat na ito. Wala pa yatang surgery na naiimbento ang Syensiya at mga doktor para dito.

Mabuti nalang at si panahon ay nakikisama. Ang pagkakataon ay mahabagin at mapag bigay. Sa ngayon ay okay lang naman ako. Namumuhay ng tahimik at kontento. At sa totoo lang, hindi ko na maisip at maalala ang dahilan ng aming pag hihiwalay. Hindi ko na rin matandaan kung ano ang aming pinag awayan. Ni hindi ko na rin maalala kung nagkausap pa ba kami ng maayos bago kami tuluyang nagkahiwalay.

Kaya, oo, naiintindihan ko friend ang dinaranas mo. At habang nakikinig ako sa iyong pagdadalamhati ay tomotoma din ako. Baka sakaling mapawi din ang alaala ng sakit na dating naramdaman ng aking puso.

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