Quick Thought

I glanced at what my sister was watching on TV, and it struck me: should we have the 2007 elections, a lot of the candidates will probably use the theme from "Pinoy Big Brother" or Manny Pacquiao's "Para Sa Iyo" as their campaign ditties.

Oh, joy. As if we're not hearing enough of them already.

Food Binge

It's been a busy few days, but, still, I managed to sample a few new restaurants over the weekend.

Fleur de Lys
(Tomas Morato, beside the Popular Bookstore)

(By the way, is this pronounced French-style, or the "s" at the end is pronounced?) H and I ate here last Friday while waiting for B and our friends to come in from Makati, to sample another restaurant. We actually ate here earlier in the week, and fell in love with the desserts. The last time we were there, I sampled The Next Best Thing, which was a gooey, warm chocolate cake with caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, while H ordered the strawberry pie (not sure what the name of the dish was). They were both great, and made us want to come back for more; H, in fact, insists on going there whenever sanely possible.

This time around, H still ordered the pie, and, while I was itching to have another fill of warm chocolate cake, I decided to see what else they offered, and ordered the blueberry muffin with a crunchy streusel topping. It was okay; while the muffin had a bibingka-like rice cake-y taste, I didn't get enough blueberry, which seemed like just a dollop. Still, it was better though than the one served by Coffee Beanery, which was more banana than blueberry.

Sushi Katsu
(Scout Rallos, near Tomas Morato)

This was the restaurant we were supposed to go to, while we bided our time at Fleur. It's a small, unassuming place, rather cramped, but the food was okay. B treated us, along with and Hg and C. I ordered the curry rice, while H ordered the chahan (fried rice) and ebi tempura. C ordered their chicken cheeze grill, which was quite good, with a sweet barbeque sauce. Since I was a little stuffed from Fleur de Lys, I couldn't sample the other dishes; the curry rice I ordered though was flavorful and savory, with a garnishing of pickled onions.

C commented that I seem to be ordering curry rice whenever I eat at a Japanese restaurant. I can't help it; it's like curry rice is a touchstone for me at Japanese restos. It's like B and his gyudon, or H and her gyoza; they can tell the quality of the restaurant by tasting the gyudon or the gyoza. While I'm not as fanatic about curry rice, and it's not available at every Japanese restaurant I go to, it's still a good indicator of the restaurant's quality for me.

Max's
(SM City)

G woke up rather late, and was really energetic, so H and I decided to bring her out for dinner. We brought her to Max's in SM City, where she really ate (it's a little difficult feeding her).

I love Max's. The meat really comes off the bone so much so there's almost no point in asking that the bones be bagged for the dog; he probably won't get much meat off them.

Luk Foo
(Puregold, along Commonwealth Ave.)

It's the Chinese New Year today, so Kung Hei Fat Choy to one and all in this, the Year of the Dog!

To celebrate, my parents decided to treat us to Luk Foo, located at the Puregold warehouse supermarket along Commonwealth Ave. My mom had eaten there before, and, since she has a particular yen for Peking Duck, she apparently liked it. So, off to Luk Foo we went.

Even though there was a lot of food, we still went through the dishes like wildfire. The first course was the ubiquitous plate of Chinese appetizers: century egg, crackling pig, seaweed, barbequed pork, and roasted chicken. It was followed by pancit canton (I didn't partake of this; I'm not overly fond of canton, but H said it was okay). Then, the duck skin and meat wrapped in thin pancakes with a slice of cucumber and a dash of hoisin sauce, with a small bowl of hoisin sauce on the side, just in case you didn't get enough hoisin. Finally, the main course consisted of crab with a very spicy breading, and the rest of the duck, which was chopped up and fried almost equally spicy. I liked the crab, which was moist and tender, although one had to get past the peppery flavor to savor the crab. I found the fried duck to be a little tough, though, but still very flavorful.

G was adamant against eating the duck, considering how fond of her "pets" at home she is.

Icebergs
(SM City)

While my sister whisked G off to a birthday party in Las Pinas, H and I snuck out to go to SM City. After some shopping, we decided to have merienda at Icebergs.

As I've said before, Icebergs pales in comparison to Magnolia's now-defunct Ice Cream Houses, but since there are no other ice cream houses that I know of, it's the only place to get an ice cream fix (okay, so there's Haagen-Daz and Baskin and Robbins, but they're a little to pricey for me.). Still, the ice cream concoctions are decent enough. While H had their burger, I ordered their Boracay Split, which consisted of three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, strawberry and mango) topped off with bananas, peaches and pineapples, with whipped cream, cherries and slivered almonds.

While I liked it, I found the service to be rather poor. It was difficult to get the attention of the waiters, except perhaps when we asked for the bill (which appeared almost seconds after we asked for it). Still, once in a while is okay for me.

Food bingeing is such a wonderful experience, and while I wish I can do it more often, the budget invariably rears its ugly head and reminds me that I only have so much cash on hand.

Sigh.

"American Idol"

Even though it's on its 5th season, I was only able to view the preliminary auditions for "American Idol" last night.

It was set in Greensboro, North Carolina, the state from where two "Idol" winners, Fantasia and Clay Aikens hail.

I didn't realize how many aspiring (or delusional) people there were vying for the opportunity to become the next upcoming singing sensation. I don't envy the panel of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson their task; it was monumental. They had to sit and sift through mountains of dross, in order to find the golden nuggets hidden within.

There were a few who were really great; it was these few who were given a golden yellow sheet of paper certifying that they were moving on to the next round of eliminations. One girl stood out, and received a rare accolade from the ever-critical and biting wit Simon Cowell, who declared that she was great.

Then, there were those who apparently just tried out for the heck of it, even if their singing voice was reminiscent of scraping one's fingernails across a chalk board; hey, it's an opportunity, isn't it? Some seemed to just try out so that they would be featured in the interviews; some were truly outrageous in their antics. These accepted their fate (rejection) with good grace, though, and left quietly.

Finally, there were those who were under the impression (delusion) that their voices were stupendously great, and insisted (bitched) that they were being given a rough deal by the judges. Last night, these included a guy who mangled "Bridge Over Troubled Water," (completely off-key), and another guy who tried to impress the panel with his breath control, as he unnecessarily sustained word after word, prompting panelist Randy Jackson to comment that it would take the singer two hours to finish a song. Randy was the recipient of merciless ragging by Simon when the singer said that he had practiced using Randy's instructional DVD. After the audition, the rejected wannabe proceeded to smash the DVD to itty-bitty pieces.

One female aspirant apparently was along the lines of psychotic. Before her audition, she was strutting around, displaying what she believed were her female charms. As soon as she came in, Randy asked her what her name was. In reply, she began to sing, a little off-key. She said afterwards that it was a joke, and proceeded to sing her audition piece, which was also slightly off-key. She acted pretty bizarre: she wouldn't follow instructions, and she was acting as if she were already a star. It was predictable what the panel's verdict would be.

When she came out of the audition room, she began cussing a blue streak, about how the panel couldn't recognize her talent, that she had more talent than Paula Abdul, and so on, so forth. I realize that she was a colorful character, but I think the cameramen gave her more attention that she was worth.

I'm wondering what goes on through the minds of some of these people; while I admire their pluckiness in trying out, someone should've told them earlier that they don't have it. Still, it's an opportunity to be recognized, even if it's only to be rejected on camera.

And so, for the panel of judges, it's on to the next city, San Francisco, where a host of aspiring singers await them. I hope they have better luck, and better singers.

Sluggish

It's been tough going the past few days, what with the fact that G continues to sleep around midnight, and that I'm trying to get ahead of my backlog, which is threatening to engulf me. As a result, no posts for two days, and a short one for today, because, as I write this, I'm still a little sleepy. I'll probably take a nap after this.

Good morning, all.

Busy Few Days

It’s been a tad hectic, which is why I haven’t been able to post the past few days. Here’s a semi-detailed rundown of what’s been going on:

Thursday

I went with my students on a field trip to Barasoain and Biak-na-Bato, although I didn’t join them for all of the activities; I skipped the cave trek, because I didn’t want to tire myself out. Still, I went with one of my classes through the national park, and watched as some of the students rappelled down the bridge, about 30 feet. One of the guides even tried rappelling face first, a la “Mission Impossible,” but he had a bit of a trying time with it; he said afterwards that he preferred the usual way that the others did.

Friday

Even though I felt bone-tired from the day before, and sparring with my students last Wednesday, I joined the faculty and the staff in the outing to Club Manila Central in Taytay, Rizal, about thirty minutes away from the Ateneo. After the merienda we had upon arrival, each department went off to their respective cabanas, and prepared to engage in swimming, water sliding, and kayaking. I wound up sliding several times, along with some of my friends. C took some coaxing before she went down the slide, but, once she slid down the first time, she gamely went up the stairs for another go. After lunch, I was too tired to continue swimming, so I rested in the cabana, and then joined my colleagues in singing videoke.

We left Club Manila at about three, and then I went off to UP to have dinner with H and E at Chocolate Kiss. Since neither were there when I arrived, I headed over to the gym to pay a quick visit to the UP Judo Club, my old haunt.

There was a lot of conversation over dinner, as we met around six, and broke up only when the restaurant closed at around ten. H and I then went over to Fleur de Lys along Tomas Morato Ave. for dessert.

Saturday

Mostly chores for today: cleaning up the house, watering the plants, fixing the rooms, etc.

Today

We went to the Sidcor after Mass to buy some stuff for the house, including some fruit and two brooms. Afterwards, we went to my parents’ house for lunch, and added barbeque from Ineng’s, and fresh lumpia to the fare, which already included laing and grilled tuna. We then caught the first part of the Manny Pacquiao/Erik Morales boxing match.

When we got home, we continued watching the match, and cheered as Pacquiao floored Morales in the 10th round, and then pummeled him into submission, forcing the referee to stop the fight, and give Pacquiao the technical knockout, and the victory.

I cooked dinner by making calamares, or breaded fried squid, and, while the results weren’t as crunchy as when our housekeeper used to cook it, they were as flavorful.

I then went out getting ingredients for some dishes H wanted to cook. And now, I’m here, writing this entry.

It’s going to be a little busy this week, and I’m not sure if I’ll continue the daily posting. But, as usual, I’ll be doing my best to comment on life on a daily basis.

Blast from the Past - Sesame Street

I have "Sesame Street" to thank for my English proficiency, and I'm pretty certain people of my generation will probably say the same. Every morning, when we were kids, we'd be treated to a montage of cartoons and skits covering topics from the letters to numbers to Spanish words. All of this would be tied together around a central theme, which the Sesame Street inhabitants would discuss or act out. This would be learning about different cultures, or learning that certain actions were unacceptable, or simply learning about values such as patience and courtesy.

"Sesame Street" didn't talk down to its audience. In fact, I think I remember reading somewhere that the shows were designed to be watched by the children in partnership with their parents, who were expected to process what the kids saw. Thus, an adult could appreciate some of the subtle humor injected into each episode.

One of the keys that helped "Sesame Street" click was the presence of the Muppets. Having characters like Grover and Kermit the Frog teach us about distance (near and far) or parts of the body was a entertaining part of the show.

The Ernie and Bert skits were what I remember best. Who could forget the time when Ernie couldn't sleep, and Bert told him to count sheep? Ernie got bored counting sheep, which actually bleated out loud enough for Bert to hear, and proceeded to count fire engines. When
Bert complained, Ernie suggested that he count something quiet, like balloons, which then inflated and promptly exploded with a bag, scaring Bert out of his wits. And that was just the first balloon.

"Sesame Street", for all its fun, didn't shy away from the serious topics. When the Will Lee, the actor who played Mr. Hooper passed away, the cast processed the concept of death by talking with Big Bird, who had thought that Mr. Hooper ("Looper" to Big Bird) just went away and would be back soon.

Through "Sesame Street", the children of my generation learned our alphabet, our numbers, and, to some extent, our values. The "Sesame Street" of today is a far cry from the show of old; for one thing, it's just a half-hour, instead of the hour we were treated to. Good thing for kids today that kids' viewing is more varied (see previous post).

But I still miss the days when the cartoon hand would pull back the pinball handle and let the ball fly, or when the alligator king called for his seven sons.

For the nostalgic:

Sesame Street Song Lyrics Archive

"Code Name: Kids Next Door"

Maybe it's because they're constantly fighting against ravages of growing old.

Maybe it's because they're so quirky that they're fun to watch.

Whatever the reason, one of the cartoons that I came to enjoy watching on a regular basis last year was "Code Name: Kids Next Door," about a worldwide organization of pre-teens banding together to fight against the tyranny of adults (homework, going to bed early, eating asparagus, etc.). Think of Peter Pan going mad on a worldwide scale, and you've probably got an image of KND.

The series focuses on the operatives of sector V, made up of Numbuhs One through Five, and is presented in a series of acronym-based missions, with really funky descriptions; examples include: Operation C.A.N.N.O.N.: Cannon And Naptime Not Occurring Normally, and L.O.C.K.D.O.W.N. for Lurking Otherworldy Childhood Kalamity Delivers Ouchies When Naughty. Utilizing what they call Two-by-Four technology, with weapons such as the B.A.J.O.O.K.A. (Blasts Aloft Juicy Overfilled Orange Kartons Amazingly), and vehicles such as the S.U.B.S.T.A.N.D.A.R.D. (Super Underwater Boat Swims Terrifically At Nautical Defenses And Rarely Decompresses), the KND battles adults' evil plans such as destroying the source of coffee (what makes adults powerful) and saving kids' lunches from lunch bandits. Of course, sometimes, the mission results from a misunderstanding, and it's hilarious as to how the KND deals with it.

There are a lot of things that I like about the series. One is how the KND is able to take normal, everyday items and turn them into weapons and vehicles; one can still see how the items fit into each piece of Two-by-Four technology. See here for a more or less complete list of the gadgets used by the Kids Next Door.

Another are the kooky villains who constantly battle the KND. At the top of my list are the Delightful Children from Down the Lane, and their leader, Father. The Delightful Children speak as one and act as one, and attempt to punish the Kids Next Door for misbehaving, using their own forms of technology. Father is a silhouette of a genteel adult, and is bent on taking over the world. Some of the best episodes involved these two malevolent villains.

Sometimes, even their closest allies become mortal enemies. In one long (30-minute) episode, the KND discover that one of their best operatives, Numbuh 274, has turned thirteen, the age one must be decommissioned from the KND. He turns against the KND, and joins the forces of Father (Operation E.N.D.: Everyone Nearly Decommissioned).

There is a lot of pop culture being parodied in "KND." From the "Raiders of the Lost Ark," to the Beatles, each reference is subtly blended into the cartoon. Even the names and details of the Kids Next Door themselves contain these references; for example, the real name of Numbuh One is Nigel Uno, and "Uno" is Spanish for "One".

Of course, it's not for everybody; my brother, B, for example, with whom I share a good number of common interests, finds the series too weird even for him. The bottom line is that the KND remind me that I should always keep the child in me alive, to always keep that sense of wonder strong and healthy.

To learn more about the Kids Next Door, you can visit the Wikipedia site.

Quick Updates

It was a bit of a busy weekend, what with H's OB-Gyne checkup last Saturday (the coming addition to our family is fine, thank goodness), attending a baptism reception and bringing G out yesterday, so I'm a bit frazzled for the start of the week. It's a good thing that it's a three-day work week for me, as I'll be joining my classes for their field trip to Biak-na-Bato on Thursday, and we faculty and staff will be having our annual outing on Friday. Now, whether I'll be able to join that will all depend on how much the field trip takes out of me.

Still, I was able to do a bit of relaxation over the weekend. I've restarted my baseball simulation, and am currently going through another season. I did some reading, courtesy of my brother's comics collection. And I was able to get some much needed sleep, to catch up on the deprivation I go through during the week.

One good thing is that for the next four weeks, schedules will be a bit irregular, what with the high school fair next week, and the various Ateneo holidays that come during the transition from January to February. So, the load will be a little lighter, and maybe I can put the off days to some good use (i.e., goofing off).

Something to look forward to.

Religious Idiot

To think, when I was a kid, I had a lot of respect for Christian evangelist Pat Robertson. Back then, he seemed like a kindly man who emanated a strong Christian faith. Of course, back then, my knowledge and orientation of religion was very sparse.

Now I know better, considering what I've seen of the man in recent times.

After calling for the assassination or "taking out" of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez last year, Robertson was quoted a few days ago as saying that the stroke suffered by Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was "divine retribution" for dividing the Holy Land.

This is a Christian minister saying such things, mind you.

While Robertson has apologized for both remarks (about Chavez and Sharon), they are qualifiedapologies nonetheless, and are therefore empty and meaningless.

While he apologized for suggesting that the US should assassinate Chavez, he still argues that he should be taken out, through kidnapping or other such means, which would be considered as extreme meddling by the US (although I'm also pretty certain that such an idea was mulled by Bush and his merry men).

While he wrote a letter of apology to Sharon's son Omri, the damage has already been done. Nothing can take back what he said, especially in our media-savvy millieu. His words are enshrined forever in the annals of religious idiocy.

Perhaps the venerable Robertson should step down from his pulpit, before he says anything else that will further paint his country as an arrogant aggressor to the world. Lord knows he's done enough damage.

Kid Shows

One of the limitations of having a young daughter is that one’s TV viewing is basically limited to a number of channels, namely, Disney, Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. What I find amazing is the number of children-oriented shows nowadays.

When I was a kid, the main educational kid show was “Sesame Street.” A good number of people my age probably retain fond memories of Mr. Hooper, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, and Ernie and Bert, among others. Some will probably even remember the tunes, and maybe even the lyrics and lines, of the various skits and cartoons that taught us everything from location (near and far), counting, and values.

Now, there’s a plethora of shows which cater to children’s education; the “Sesame Street” that’s on TV is a pale shadow of its glory days. One can switch to “Dora the Explorer”, or “Blues’ Clues” or “Art Attack.” Each of the three children’s channels, Cartoon Network, Disney and Nickelodeon, all set aside a time in the day to show a series of programs designed to help children learn.

Once in a while, when I have no work, I sometimes join my daughter in watching these shows. And I find that, while I miss “Sesame Street,” these shows adequately make up and expand the possibilities for our children to learn and experience new things.

Still, one thing to remember is that these shows cannot substitute our own presence and time with our children; in fact, our nanny has instructions not to let G watch too much television. They can merely help support and give us ideas that we can try out with our kids. But it is important to remember not to use these shows to supplant us as our kids’ parents. In the end, it’s what we experience with our children that is important.

Blast from the Past - Arcade Games

Nowadays, because of time restraints, I find myself playing games on the computer which don't require me to sit for hours traversing a fantasy or alien landscape, killing creatures and solving puzzles to my heart's content.

Thank goodness for arcade games. And when I mean arcade games, I don't mean the boring but visually appealing games that appear nowadays. I mean the old classic games like Pac-Man and Galaxian. These games forced you to focus on surviving as long as you can; there were no "Continue?" messages back then.

And the menagerie of games boggled the eye. There seemed to be no limit to the creativity that arcade game creators employed in the past, unlike today, where all arcade games seem to be grouped into just three categories: racing, fighting, and shoot-em-ups. In the old days, one could try to complete the making of a hamburger in "Burger Time", try to get a frog to cross the road in "Frogger" or simply shoot down enemies in games like "Galaxian" and "Space Invaders".

Of course, the graphics were nothing compared to the slick 3-D animation that most games today sport, but, the best thing about the games is not the quality of the animation, but the quality of the game play.

Several years ago, I lucked out when I discovered the Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME). With MAME, I've been able to relive the glory days of arcade games on my own computer.

So, if you'll excuse me, I have some serious gaming to do.

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe"

Okay, so it's been busy. I guess since December was a bit of downtime from work for me, blogging wasn't too difficult to do. With me back in gear at work, posts will return to their intermittent schedule. Ah well.

H and I went to see "The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" at SM North Edsa last night. This movie had been hyped for quite a while now, and considering it's about as classic as Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", expectations for me were a little high. Fortunately, the people behind the movie loved C.S. Lewis' classic as many readers did, and that love exhibited itself in the movie.

One of the difficulties with fantasy movies is to be able to create a world that is palpable and believable, despite the fact that it's populated with beings and creatures that have never walked the earth. Director Andrew Adamson, with the help of CGI, is able to bring forth the centaurs, griffons, minotaurs, giants, and whatnot to life on the big screen, and he and his crew do it relatively seamlessly.

Of the many CGI characters that appear onscreen, it's the Beavers (voiced by Ray Winstone and Dawn French) and Aslan the Lion (voiced by Liam Neeson, although in the trailer, I could have sworn it was Sean Connery) who are the most expressive. The Beavers provide a bit of comedy relief with their snappy patter, and Aslan, of course, if one has read the book, is Aslan, the messianic character in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles, and he comes forth with all the majesty and presence his character emanates in the books, thanks to Neeson.

One other CGI performance is the battle scene at the end of the story. Although there were times that it was too obviously computerized, the penultimate battle between good and evil is at par with the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in "Return of the King". One could feel the intensity throughout, from the moment a cheetah and a tiger pounced on one another at the start, to the fight between Peter Pevensie and the White Witch at the end.

Much like when I first saw "Fellowship of the Ring", there were times when my eyes teared up as I gazed upon Narnia for the first time, along with major points across the film; it was that well-made.

The human actors were also relatively well-chosen, especially the children who played the Pevensies. Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes were very good as Lucy and Edmund, particularly. Henley displayed the child's wonder at finding Narnia, and meeting Mr. Tumnus. Keynes, on the other hand, skillfully projected Edmund's resentment at Peter's (William Moseley) bossing around. Anna Popplewell as Susan portrayed her with the skepticism that Susan had in the book, and does it convincingly.

Tilda Swinton was menacing as the White Witch, showing the depths of evil that the Witch is capable of. James McAvoy played a very believable Mr Tumnus the Faun.

While the film was long, I barely noticed it, although admittedly there were some parts which might have dragged a tad. What was amusing was that the audience was completely taken in by the movie, laughing and gasping at the right moments, and even applauding lustily at the end of the flim.

The theater was packed to the gills, as families flocked to the moviehouses in the aftermath of the Metro Manila Filmfest (I didn't get to watch any of the films. Was there anything worth watching?). However, I do have one complaint. SM released it in its so-called Premiere Theater, charging viewers P130, but there was nothing premiere about it, considering how crowded the moviehouse was; H and I were lucky to get a seat. I suspect that, as usual, SM sacrificed customer service for profit, and tried to pack as many people as they could.

Still, that one glitch wasn't enough to affect our enjoyment of the movie. If this is the first of several movies translating C.S. Lewis's classic series to the big screen, I'm looking forward to the next one.

Movies I want to watch, based on the trailers:

1. "Fearless" - billed as Jet Li's final martial arts film, "Fearless" is a historical piece, set when the British began diplomatic relations with China, and their attempts to colonize this vast country.

2. "Cars" - Disney and Pixar's last collaboration, the animation harkens back to Disney's "Silly Symphonies". I hope it's as good as all of Pixar's work has been.

3. "Memoirs of a Geisha" - several American critics have panned this movie, and I don't know why. I'm going to find out, though.

Blast from the Past - Black and White

Last Tuesday, H treated me out to a banana split at Icebergs in SM City. While it was okay, it reminded me of how much better it was when Magnolia still had their Ice Cream Houses, particularly the one along Aurora Avenue. When I was a kid, my family would use to go here as a treat. Each of us would order a particular concoction.

My personal favorite was the Black and White. This dish was served in a banana split dish (no bananas, though), with three scoops of ice cream: strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. Added to these were crushed peanuts, strawberries and pineapple. Then, one side would be slathered in whipped cream, and the other in chocolate syrup, and topped off with three cherry halves (I think; I’m not sure about this detail anymore, it’s been too long.).

I would normally start with one side, and work my way to the other. By the time I got to the end, all of the ice cream and toppings would merge into one gooey mess. And it was truly a wonderful treat.

The Ice Cream Houses closed down when Nestle bought Magnolia’s ice cream franchise several years ago, but, even by then, the Ice Cream Houses’ quality had declined.

Magnolia reentered the ice cream market last year, although with a different look. Hopefully, it’ll grow enough to restart its Ice Cream House franchise.

Baking

(Dang, lost the post)

I was supposed to write about baking bread, but, unfortunately, Blogger didn't save my draft. Ah well.

Anyway, the loaves have been shaped and are currently rising, and soon, they will be baking. Once baked, they fill the house with a warm, cozy fragrance, and are soft and sweet to the taste.

I am glad of the fact that I know how to bake, although, in this case, I was really assisting my sister, all the while observing each step, so that I'd know how to do it the next time.

Otherwise, I am more or less adept at baking smaller sweets, like cookies or bars. Normally, during the Christmas season, I wind up baking to give away goodies to my friends, and this Christmas wasn't an exception. H and I wound up making brownies and revel bars, and gave them away to close friends and relatives.

I wish I could make more time to learn more about baking and cooking, but, there are already so many priorities on my mind, and I'm not sure how to fit them in. Ah well. One day at a time, one dish at a time.

(Argh, I wish I still had the previous work. C'est la vie.)

Tired

I didn’t realize how tired I was until H woke me up in the late afternoon; apparently, I had fallen asleep watching, “Whose Line is It Anyway?” (which is a very funny show).

The holidays really took a lot out of me this season. Ironically, I was expecting to get a bit of rest over the break, but, if you’ve read my posts, that was far from the truth. It’s been hectic and whirlwind, with very little rest in between. Ah, well. At least, it was fun.

This afternoon I dropped off B’s gifts at T and J’s place, and spent some time chatting with them. Since they came from Iloilo, they gave me a pasalubong of Mama’s Kitchen’s mango chewies, and a bag of butterscotch, which is one of my favorite foods from Iloilo. However, this batch of butterscotch didn’t come from Biscocho House, which is where we normally get it, but it wasn’t bad. In fact, I think it was more moist and flavorful than the regular stuff. I wound up finishing off half the bag before I remembered that others should be given the opportunity to sample it.

Tomorrow, I’ll make some final baking for the season, and, hopefully, my sister will come home early enough for us to work on baking some bread.

First Post of 2006

My ears are still ringing from the 5,000-piece sawa (string of firecrackers, named after the python) my cousin set off to usher in the new year.

It was the culmination of a really great fireworks display. There were all sorts of pyrotechnics lighting up the sky. Even now, all around the Philippines, people are greeting the new year the way they know, by making a whole lot of noise. As the explosions fill the air, and colored fireworks light up the sky, it's a grand concatenation of noise and light. One would almost think that some sort of military bombardment was going on, although I'm sure war veterans would disagree.

G enjoyed every minute of the explosive display, although as the sawa's booming reached us, the noise began to bother her, and I had to take her inside. Still, she stared, wide-eyed and wondering at each bright display of fireworks.

Still, it's the New Year 2006, and we've entered the second half of the first decade of the millenium. To those who follow the Chinese calendar, come January 29, it'll be the Year of the Dog, which, coincidentally, was the year I was born. One has to wonder what lies ahead. Most likely more of the same, although I'm hoping that things are a lot better. According to a survey by the Social Weather Station (I think), more Filipinos are hopeful about next year; I'm part of that majority.

Here's to 2006. May it be prosperous.