Remembering August

Almost near to my birthday..yey! Long weekends and a lot of things happened this month,  Surely, no one will ever forget August.

Highlights:

• When Habagat terribly hit the Philippines, it was almost like Typhoon Ondoy.   

• Four-day weekend up: August 20, a non-working regular holiday throughout the country in observance of Eid’l Fitr, or the Feast of Ramadhan and August 21, a special holiday to commemorate the death of Ninoy Day

• When Sec. Jesse Robredo's plane crashed that took almost 3 days for his body to be found in the deepest ocean.  The theory of sabotage. Dont you think? Why all good politicians dies early while the bad corrupt ones stays alive the longest. Tsk.   

• Neil Armstrong who was the first person to walk on the Moon.died at the age of 82. 

• Three-day weekend up: August 27, National Heroes Day.

  Every day is always a new day and in every month there's always something worth remembering..^_^

Salamat Maria: Marian Exhibit 2012

This Marian Exhibit was held at Sta.Lucia East Mall, Entertainment Level, Phase II last August 12-26, 2012. We knew about this a day before the last day so the chance we had was to visit on the last day of the exhibit. So we did. We wont miss the chance since it was near to our place.  A lot of people was there praying, looking at the wonderful religious statues and taking lots of pictures.

View 75 different faces of Mary

Crispy Chicken Potato Puffs

My mom used to cook this to us when we were kids.  I actually dont know what its called before i just knew it was delicious. Years passed by, we grew up and my mom doesnt cook this anymore (busy busy) so i was the one to cook it for us this time.  This is another easy and cheap snack/appetizer.  These have a lot of versions like creamy cheese puffs, Potato puffs and so on.



Mine was a combination of chicken and potato.  (Experimenting again! haha)

Here's how i made it:

1. Peel the potato and cut it into small cubes.

2. Boil until very tender. drain water then mash the potato. Set aside.

3. Dissolve the 1 chicken cube into 1 cup of water. Stir.

4. Turn off the heat and then add 2 cups of flour and the mashed potato.

5. Mix it until thick and creamy.  Leave no lumps.

6. Heat oil, use a spoon and drop it in the pan.

7. Deep-Fry till light golden brown from both sides.


The shapes wont be perfect but its surely delicious. Serve it with sweet chili sauce or anything you desire. A very budget-friendly snack. Try it yourself and let me know how it tasted. ^_^

Unlad Kabuhayan Summit 2012

  Attend the Unlad Kabuhayan Summit this Aug 26-28, 2012 

(As qouted from Unlad Kabuhayan) This affair is conceptualized for micro, small and medium scale enterprises; employees who plan to become entrepreneurs; individuals surveying on how to start a new business or franchise existing businesses; parents who would like to augment income; students who would like to study entrepreneurship. For more info, kindly refer to the contact numbers above.

Everyone is invited to come.  Ticket prices for only 20.00 pesos. Payment is upon registration.

 SEE YOU THERE!

Cholesterol Busters

These are the 5 Harvard Medical School-issued cholesterol fighters. 

 EGGPLANT AND OKRA

Two low-joule veggies with extra high levels of soluble fiber, they help expel cholesterol from your system before these harmful fatss get too cosy with your bloodstream.

 FATTY FISH AND NUTS

The omega-3 fatty acids in fish help prevent abnormal heart rhythms and lower LDL cholesterol levels.  Nuts provide a heart-healthy, satisfying alternative to saturated fats.

BARLEY, OATS, BROWN RICE AND OTHER WHOLEGRAINS

Increase the proportion of these powerhouse grains in your eating plan; they pack a mighty punch of cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber.

BEANS

Defend your heart on two fronts: beans are loaded with soluble fiber and takes time to digest, so you'll feel full for longer and be less likely to grab a heart-harming snack.

APPLES, GRAPES, STRAWBERRIES AND CITRUS FRUITS

These colorful fruits are rich in pectin, a soluble fiber that lowers LDL.  Pack some daily to feed your afternoon craving.

Boost your heart's  health naturally with this nutritious, artery-cleansing foods. 

So, Let's EAT MORE OF THESE! Live healthy everyone. ^_^

source: Prevention

Spicy Stuffed Chili and Cheese Pops

So this is just an experiment i want to share. Someone told me about this but i was not-so-myself that time so i just ignored it but i did wonder how it tasted.  This very long weekend my cousins came to our house for some little bonding moments and sing-alongs, thats when i decided to try this very delicious food.  This is very easy to make and the ingredients wont cost you too much.


Good for snacks or "pulutan" and best for those who love SPICY foods. (I DO!)
So heres how to make the Spicy Stuffed Chili and Cheese Pops:

1. Wash the green chilis, slice the cheese into thin sticks (like making cheese sticks) and prepare the pastry wrapper.

2. Cut the top of the chili then slice one side of it. (Be careful not to slice it into two pieces, only one side.)

3. Remove the seeds of the chili.  You can scrape it off by knife or by your fingers.  Do it carefully.

4. Stuff the cheese on each slightly opened chili.

5. Wrap it with the pastry wrapper.  Use water to close it. (You can cut the wrapper into two for smaller chilis)

6. Fry it in low fire. You'll know its cooked when its already golden brown and you can see the cheese popping out.


I definitely love it and will cook this every weekend or maybe twice a month.  It's as easy as making lumpia and cheese sticks.  By the way, you can also play around with the ingredients, you can add small amounts of bacon or ground pork/beef too.

Try it for yourself, im sure you'll love it too! ^__^

Hospital Dilemma

Another late post.  I am sharing this experience we had last month that can make you all aware that sometimes there's no such place that we can call "safe".  I'm keeping the hospital's name private to avoid violent reactions.

JULY 08, 2012
It was past midnight when my 5 year old nephew had a very high on and off fever. We rushed him at the emergency early in the morning because his fever wont go down, he had a convulsion already.  Terrified.  We suspected it could be Dengue and really worried because it was the time that a virus in Cambodia killed hundreds of kids for less than 24 hours (who wouldn't be dead worried right?) While at the hospital his fever went down a bit.  he was checked up and then the doctor said that we can go home and just observe for the moment (since the fever goes down already) 

According to them, they can't check if its Dengue or what until it's over 24 hours.  It's annoying but we understand their rules whatsoever.  So we go home.  My nephew's fever went high again, from time to time we were wiping him with cold towel.  The problem is my nephew had a phobia drinking medicines.  He's even scared to hear the word "medicine".  (His phobia started in that same hospital; at age of 2 years old he was roughly forced to drink Tempra) From then on, everytime he sees any kind of medicine he cries and run away so what we do is trick him, mix it with juices and milk but still he can smell it that he even didnt like to drink milk and juice anymore.  For a quick relief, we use suppository just to make the fever go down a bit.


JULY 09, 2112
 We went to the hospital again for follow check up and for the Dengue test.  They advise us to just go back for the results but we insist to have my nephew to be confined at once.  We got a private pedia room.  It was a relief my nephew was negative in Dengue but still worried because of his on/off fever.


JULY 10, 2012
His findings was VIRAL INFECTION.  Infection caused by the presence of a virus in the body. Depending on the virus and the person's state of health, various viruses can infect almost any type of body tissue, from the brain to the skin. Viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics; in fact, in some cases the use of antibiotics makes the infection worse. The vast majority of human viral infections can be effectively fought by the body's own immune system, with a little help in the form of proper diet, hydration, and rest. As for the rest, treatment depends on the type and location of the virus, and may include anti-viral or other drugs.

He gets better and his doctora said that we can be discharge when his fever gets off but it went terribly high again in the afternoon so another night for us.  Another Dengue test to make sure it was not really dengue at all.  My mom notice the dirts on the floor even when it is cleaned daily. We ignored it.




JULY 11, 2012
Early morning, my nephew suddenly gets itchy, few rashes came out from his back.  We called a nurse then the nurse told us maybe it was because of the beddings so she requested a new one for us.

Lunchtime, my sister was feeding my nephew when she noticed big flakes of dusts from the food.  It isn't pepper coz it was all scattered from the tray, the table and the floor.

CARBON DUSTS! Or whatever dusts it may be it was still dirty! Were in a hospital, everything should atleast be clean, right? We found out that all the dirts and dusts came from the aircon.  Since Day 1 it was blowing dirts on us and we even ignored it.  Now we knew why the floors has always been dirty and where my nephew got his rashes.  We called a nurse again. the head nurse attended to us.  They let the aircon checked and confirmed that it really needs cleaning.  They apologize and said that they will transfer us into a new room where theres available (so that means we have to WAIT) and they will replace the food as well.  15 minutes had passed the new food came, stil no vacant room.  So my sister again prepare the food for my nephew.  It was past 1:00pm already and my nephew hadn't eaten lunch.  A couple of minutes ago, my sister saw this from the Nilagang Baboy (the new food)

SEE IT???

CLOSER...

AND MORE CLOSER

A MAGGOT!

It wasn't as harmful as the carbon dusts from the aircon but to see something like this in your food at the hospital is so disturbing.  It was so eeeeewwww! We didnt show this to my nephew coz he might not eat nilagang baboy ever again.  It was so disappointing and this all happens in just one full day.

Another thing, upon admission, we noted there that my nephew has high allergies in anything that contains NUTS so his food will be restricted to it but at the same day they serve a peanut cupcake.  My sister was so mad.  Was it just by mistake or they are really not attentive to their patient's safety?

They are apologizing again and again.

We were transferred into the new room.  My sister requested for a incident report for what happened that day but the head nurse told her that they dont personally give out reports to patients.  My sister insisted they need to make a report or we will direct it to the management.  The head nurse said: "Okay po ma'am we will make it but we cant hand it out to you" So thats the end of it.  We didnt have a copy of the report because it was against their rules.  I dont know.  We didnt push through because we knew we wont get any justice and maybe it was just a small issue.  We were more concerned that my nephew gets better.

My nephew getting better

JULY 12, 2012

My nephew's fever finally went off and we were discharged in the afternoon. 

We were "suki" of this hospital because we always go here for check ups and confinements.  It is only this time we experienced this careless act of this hospital.  This hospital is very popular and this is where patients should watch closely what they eat and check the aircon as well. Got the clue? Don't mention it below hahaha ^_^

Cinemalaya: Sta. Niña

LATE POST

July 24, 2012

 

Coco Martin waves and smiles..wee!

 

SANTA NIÑA

BY EMMANUEL QUINDO PALO

Finalist, New Breed Full Length Feature Category

2012 CINEMALAYA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL AND COMPETITION

SYNOPSIS When Paulino Mungcal and his co-worker in a lahar-filled quarry unexpectedly dig up the remains of his 2-year daughter Marikit, they discover that she showed no signs of decay.  Could this be a miracle, and could she -- despite death – cure the sick? Inspired by whatever healing power the deceased child may have, Pol asks the church to declare her a saint.  But how, when her resurgence stirs up emotions buried by time, and shores up questions about pure love, guilt, sin and salvation?

Tickets were sold out. Huge crowd

Awarding

Reformatted at long last

 

My computer running very really slow.  I've got a lot of files most of it are old pictures and past design projects. Before i only have one internal hard drive but since the time i lost all my data files (something happened i dont understand that the only cure is to reformat it) I bought another hard disk to separate my data files from the program files.  Local Disk was the program files and Back Up contains all my important and not-so-important files from then on i dont worry much of losing my files again.  I also have 2 external hard drive (both 250gb) but is still not sufficient for all the files.   I needed a bigger storage for everything.  When our internet router got broken because of Habagat, the Smartbro technician came to our house to fix it and then advise me to reformat the computer as soon as possible. (Maybe because he saw that it was very full)  Gladly, my cousin suggest that they had a direct supplier of gadgets in their office and that he can buy it for me.  It was a lot cheaper, this 2 terabyte expansion hard drive cost for only 5,300 pesos.

My cousin laughingly told me: "Matagal pa siguro bago mo maubos yan.." Yeah i guess. Everything in the computer was 91.1 gb.  It took me almost a day to scan it to make sure theres no virus in it  So now, i have a room for new files and a bit faster to surf and do some offline stuffs.  After reformatting, i downloaded and installed all the necessary softwares (Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Itunes, Bit Torrent etc...) And also, a lot of new fonts. I love FONTS so much. Here are some of it: 

If you like them too, You can download it here:

FONTS FOR PEAS - very nice scrapbook fonts
1001 FREE FONTS - random fonts

Reformatting is somewhat like moving on into a sad part of your life that sometimes you wish that forgetting is as easy as reformatting, that means everything will be deleted in just a few clicks. But it's not.  Sad, isn't it?  There are things that we cant really forget and it become a part of our memory, it wont be destroyed by a virus or be corrupted, ever.

True, right?  Have a nice day!

Tropical Storm Haiku: Hagupit ni Habagat

 

 In the Philippines, Manila and its environs, at least 15 people died and about 250,000 fled their homes after the flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain.  More than half of the metropolis is now underwater. There is a danger water can destroy the wall of the dam, located near a large reservoir.  Estimates of the weathermen are alarming: the rains caused by tropical storm of "haiku" in the coming days will continue.

Devastating photos from all parts of the Philippines. Floods are all over the place and even after the water had subsided in some area, it was still a disaster because most of them lose not their houses but almost everything.  To start all over again, as i watched the news, one of the victims said: "Hindi po namin alam paano kami magsisimula ulit, wala po kaming naisalbang mga gamit,kahit pera ho wala naanod na lahat ng baha. "  Since Haiku isnt declared as a typhoon so all of us wasnt that much worried "maulan lang talaga" but the rain really wont stop and we were all shocked of this very strong tropical storm.  I salute to the brave rescuers who willingly risk their own life to save other people's lives, to the good samaritans who help each other despite of their situation and also to the foundations who provide food and shelter to all the affected areas.

Fellow bloggers how are you? Hope you're all safe.  Lets all pray for a good weather as soon as possible.  God Bless all.

Disclaimer: I do not own the photos.

Making Sushi my own way

Sushi is one of my favorite foods.  I can eat a lot of it in just one sitting.  There was this time when i was in Cayman Islands we ate at Thai Orchid, it was a sunday brunch "Eat All You Can" special from 11:30am- 3:00pm (i forgot how much CI$) They serve lots of food including almost all kinds of sushi.  I was like "wow!".  I tasted the other foods but i was really after the sushis, like i almost fill my plate with sushi.  Till i notice an indian lady at the table was looking at me, i suddenly felt shy so i ask my sister to get some for me instead. haha.  I would really like to go back there soon.  Here at the Philippines i had tried some at Teriyaki Boy and the one in the grocery at Sm Makati (i forgot the name) I have heard of Yakimix too but i havent tried it yet.  So since it was really becoming one of my cravings, i told myself that i should learn how to make it. This isn't my first attempt to make sushi, i have done it before several times.  Buying all the ingredients might be too expensive but it is indeed satisfying after.  You can create your own sushi like you want more cream cheese or crab meat etc., So heres how:

1.  Cook 3 cups of sushi rice in a rice cooker.  You can cook more, if desired. But 3 cups can make a lot of rolls already.

2. After it's cooked, let it cool.  Mix a little bit of rice wine and a little bit of salt.

3.  Boil the crab meat. Then cut it into long strips.  Do the same for the pipino and cream cheese.

4. its time to roll. (This is the hardest part for me, the rice is too sticky) Get a sushi mat, put the Nori over it.  Its best to put a cling wrap to the sushi mat so the rice wont stick there.  You can also cut the Nori if its too long.

5.  Spread the sushi rice in the Nori (dont make it to thick)

6. Then add the cream cheese and pipino.

7.  Roll it carefully to close both ends.  (Its like rolling a dough..hmmm?) Then that's it! Chill it then cut it in bite sizes.

I made 15 rolls, 8 pieces per roll.

I haven't mastered how to make a perfect sushi but atleast it does taste sushi and im satisfied with it. Hehe.  You can use any ingredients you want.  I have tried making Tuna Sushi, Beef and Pork Sushi. Experimenting such recipes satisfy my cravings..wee. Till next. ^_^

Nafhu, the spoiled cat

i caught my cat Nafhu sleeping beside my mom.  Im letting him go away but he doesn't move as if he was really asleep.  Hmm..Nafhu is really a spoiled cat. though.  We had other cats too but Nafhu always has a separate serving of food.  I also make a witch hat for him when it's Halloween and a santa hat when it's Christmas.  We own him for almost four years, i guess. Wonder how we got him and why Nafhu is his name?

Heres the story behind his spoiled life with us.

Nafhu was a stray cat in a bakery near the tricycle lane where we ride going home. So one day, my mom pass by and there's this grayish little kitten wandering near the bakery and keeps on meowing. It got my mom's attention (my mom likes cat more like i do) then ask the tindera who owns it. So the tindera told my mom: "Naku wala ho, kunin niyo na ho yan para mabawasan yun maingay dito"  So my mom grabbed that kitten and carried it away from the bakery.  So maybe it's the kitten's first time to ride a tricycle, he was so afraid that he was holding tight to my mom's clothes with all her claws.  He was nervous i guess.  As soon as my mom arrived home she happily called me and told me that she got a cat. I was so happy! Yey! so that day we think of the kitten's name.  Yes he was a boy kitten. Regardless of his gender, we named him NAFHU.  It was my mom's idea. Why? kasi daw NAFHU-lot. (napulot!) hehehe.  So that's how he got his name and i guess he is a mama's boy cat. 

He really likes that lying down position, sometimes we think he's very dog-like he wants it when i rub his tummy.  He's very cuddly, i always pinch his cheeks (if there was haha) or squeeze his paws sometimes. When he wants attention he'll lie down like that and roll-over.  So he was so loved but like most cats, he is also scolded everytime tinatangay niya yung fresh fish or cooked fish of course napapalo siya. HIndi siya nadadala,  he does it over and over again just what cats do but we still love him and we will keep HIM. ^_^

First Day of August

 I just felt a tremendous distance between me and everything real.  Fairytales can be a way to escape the real world coz sometimes life out here is kinda disturbing, like there's always a villain who will destroy your happy ending.  Hmmm? I just wished fairygodmother can always be there to rescue.

How strange it is. We have deep terrible lingering fears about ourselves and the people we love.  Yet we walk around, talk to people, and and drink.  We manage to function.  The feelings that are deep and real. Shouldn't they paralyze us?  How is it we can survive them, at least for a while?  We drive a car, we teach a class, We go to work.  How is it no one sees how deeply afraid we were, last night, this morning?  Is it something we all hide from each other, by mutual consent?  Or do we share the same secret without knowing it? Wear the same disguise.

Start right..end right ^_^