This is Toni’s younger sister. She asked me to post this entry to let you know how she is.
Toni will not be able to post in the next few days due to a really bad viral infection. She is recovering slowly and has been in and out of the ER since Monday. Toni will be staying with us until she gets better.
She is asking for your prayers and wishes so she can get better quickly.
Thank you,
Patti
Got drunk on my pasta. I put too much wine in my pasta sauce last night and ended up light-headed the rest of the meal preparations. Eep! I had to make a gazillion adjustments.
Meatballs are fun!. I made my first meatballs. Just mixed ground beef, an egg, salt and pepper, bread crumbs, minced onions and garlic powder together. And a dash of Italian seasoning too. Roll between your palms and form into a 1″ balls. Put ‘em on a pre-heated non-stick skillet for 12 minutes, shaking the pan every now and then. H loved it. We still have leftovers.
Applesauce is a great way to curb the sweet tooth. I made this to go with some pork chops last week but made too much applesauce. I just dunked two chopped apples (with skin, without — it’s all good) in about a cup of apple juice and brought it to a boil. After that I mashed the apples with a fork , then added just a wee bit of sugar. Simmer, simmer, simmer. Eat, eat, eat. I keep a tub of applesauce in the fridge and eat a spoonful when I get the urge for sweets. I’m trying to cut down on chocolates.
A Phone Call at about 10 in the evening
My best friend E: Do you know where I can get feta cheese?
Me: SM has it.
E: They do? Oh good. I was trying to fall asleep kanina so I put the channel to the Lifestyle Network. Molte Mario was on so I thought I’d go to sleep. Aaargh! He was doing something with feta cheese and tomatoes and basil and now I’m craving for it and am on the road, looking for feta cheese!
Me: Hahaha! You can try that with olives too.
E: Yes! Maybe even mozzarella.
Me: Okay, good luck with your search for feta.
E: Oh no! Rustan’s is closed!!!
Me: I guess you weren’t meant to eat that today.
E: Grrrr!
I sense a cooking convert in the making.
H and I are celebrating our 2nd year wedding anniversary in about 2 months time. I was thinking of getting something for our families and our entourage. Yes, ye olde wedding entourage.
Something like a small gift and a little note to each one of them. For example, I can give one of my godmothers a bunch of flowers and a note thanking her for her guidance over the past two years, how her advice was invaluable during the first months of our marriage, etc etc etc. All in complete sincerity of course!
Let me digress for a moment. You know what they say about picking out godparents for your wedding? Ideally, they should be married since they’ll be guiding you during your marriage. H and I did pick out some couples we looked up to but there was a healthy dose of singles in our godparent line-up. Why?
Let’s talk about K, M and S. They’re my single godmothers. They’re all incredibly down-to-earth and really funny when they want to be, and they’re just plain cool. Best of all, they are brilliant careerwomen H and I look up to. Whenever I need motivation for work, I think of K, M and S and see how driven they are in each field they are in. The passion for my career is rekindled and I’m ra-ra-ing to work again.
Besides, how many married couples out there aren’t really “married”? You know what I mean?
I got a lot of flack from people when they found out about my godparents line-up. I didn’t want to go through so many explanations because the stress of other wedding preps were already getting to me then. But now it’s out in the open, so for you all who were wondering about that, there’s my explanation.
By the way, since we’re on the flack part, I also got some flack from the older part of my wedding crowd on that bouquet-throwing thing. You see, I didn’t have that. I didn’t have the throwing of the bouquet or the grabbing of the garter. I’ve been through so many humiliating moments when I was single, with my family and friends pushing and I mean practically PUSHING me onto the dance floor so I can make a fool out of myself and grab the bouquet. Seeing how much frustration that can give a single lady, I decided to cut it out of our program. I gave my bouquet to my brother-in-law’s girlfriend in secret. And the garter? I didn’t wear one. It itched!
So here’s unsolicited advice for you singles planning to get married: Your wedding is YOUR wedding. Plan it according to what your heart dictates, not what the older generations or what other people say. What’s the use of inserting something into the program if it irritates the hell out of you? YOU’re the bride, YOU’re the boss. Just make sure you consult your groom too by the way.
So back to my wedding anniversary gift idea, I hope I remember that. I have an anniversary tracker on the bottom of my page. I surely won’t forget about my anniversary but I might forget about THIS idea. In case I do, someone please remind me about this on May 1. 
I wanted to tap dance at Fully Booked when I heard this cook book calling out my name:
There were several other books of hers (and I wanted them all, all, ALL!!!) but I decided to get the first one first. Most of the recipes I’ve been jotting down from her shows are HERE! Hurrah. The kitchen’s gonna be seeing some wild action soon. I can’t wait to go to the grocery!
I’m not too fond of measuring. I call my type of cooking “Freestyle Cooking.” Hahaha! Does the recipe call for a cup of chopped tomatoes? I just grab four to five pieces and chop away. What about a teaspoon of black pepper? I just sprinkle some on the center of my palm and if it looks like a teaspoon, then in the pepper goes into the pot. I used to be a stickler for measurements but found it more liberating to go about my own gut feel when I cook.
I have a weird habit though. Yeah, go ahead and laugh after this, it’s okay — my officemate did after I shared this story with her. When I really like a recipe, I print it out on a piece of bond paper. Then I carry it with me everywhere I go. I read it while walking from the office to the mall, in the taxi from home to somewhere else, I read it over and over.
Why do I do this? I like seeing a movie play in my head. I imagine myself cooking according to the recipe directions. The “film” is hazy at first but after about three to five readings, the film is perfect. I can already see myself doing the recipe at performance level in my kitchen!
Weird, right? Yes, I have my own cooking show with me as the star in my head. The great thing is when I’m actually there in my kitchen I feel more comfortable with the recipe! I feel like “This is gonna be good ’cause I’ve done this before” when in fact the-done-this-before part was all in my head.
How do YOU go about learning a recipe? This is my weird but effective way. The movie in my head and the no measurements way. I guess you could call it The Freestyle Cooking Show In Toni’s Head way. Works for me!
Nakita niyo ba yun tsinelas ko? Nawawala eh. Color blue siya na flip-flops. Saan ko ba iniwan yon? Payapak-yapak pa kasi ako eh.
Ah naalala ko na. Huli ko ‘yong naiwan sa bago kong tambayan eh:
Baka sakali ring mahanap niyo yun nawawala kong tsinelas.
This is the life. At work, anyway. No Account Executives are hounding me. All my paperwork is done. No last-minute calls from other people. Just me, my computer, and oh, HIM:
Oooh yeah, Justin. I didn’t like him during the N’Sync days ’cause of his hair. His curls put on their own show, you see. But now, Justin is hot, his voice hotter. Thanks to H for giving me the Justified CD as an anniversary present last month!
Now if only I can stop myself from trying to dance to the music while I listen to “Rock Your Body.” Baka mapa-strut ako ng bigla dito sa desk ko, hahaha.
Happy Birthday, Junnie!
This guy is the most well-traveled person I know. The greatest thing is he takes me with him everywhere he goes. No, I am not his mistress lest you start rumours, shame on you. I am a regular reader of Junnie. He is a very gifted photographer and a talented writer. I’ve been to Nice and the isle of Greece while I sipped champagne on a yacht… este, ehem. I’ve been to Greece through his photographs, experienced snow in my very own work desk, been to Lego Land and back, and oh, I’ve been on countless trips through his cyberhome.
Happy Birthday, Junnie. We haven’t met but guess what? You’re one of my favorite friends online. I wish you more adventures, lots of love and a shower of blessings on your new year of life. 
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I have a new favorite — Orange Clean Wipes! I saw this in True Value, Park Square 1. I was getting sick and tired of using rags or paper towels to clean my kitchen counters and some spills. This one looked really promising so I bought one container. |
I tried it. I LOVED it! Why?
1. They’re lightly scented so your home won’t be overpowered with the scent of orange. Too much orange sickens me — reminds me of a cough medicine I took when I was a kid. These wipes were scented perfectly.
2. They’re gentle on your hands. Even if this is a powerful cleaner, they don’t leave any stinging sensation on your skin.
3. They clean fast and effectively. Just one swipe of a wipe and ta-da! They’re perfect for light cleaning jobs like your countertop, appliances, walls, even my kitchen floor. I also use these to wipe my dining room table after meals. One wipe picks the crumbs up in a flash. AND it doesn’t leave a film on an any surface.
The wipes have downsides of course. And they are…
1. They dry out easily because the cap kept snapping off! It may have been a booboo on my part since I didn’t press down the cap tightly, but still it was annoying to come home from work and see the cap off. So anyway one website said I should turn the container upside down and the wipes would be moist in no time.
2. They come only in 50s. I wish they sold bigger tubs of this stuff in True Value. I went through one container really fast.
Orange you glad you found out about this? *ba da bum cymbals crash*
I hang out a lot now in Ace Hardware and True Value. I spend a lot of time in the cleaning products area. Is that another manifestation of being OC yet again? Naaah. I just like looking for new ways to keep my home cleaner and fresher!
Have you experienced something of great worth passed on to you? Your grandmother’s engagement ring perhaps, an aunt’s old diary or even a piece of furniture that has been passed on from generation to generation? I have.
This set of books have been sitting in one same spot even before I was born. They have always been set in a huge bookshelf in my Grandparents’ home. The Books of Knowledge intrigued me when I was beginning a relationship with reading. They were situated on a pretty high shelf and I remember my nine-year-old self pulling a chair, climbing on the bottom shelf, then reaching for one particular book. My favorite book had the story of Lousia May Alcott’s Little Women in it. I’d spend hours devouring that story, pretending I was Jo on some days, Beth or Amy on others. Meg was too grown-up for me then so I didn’t imagine myself playing her.
Summer afternoons were spent getting to know the world through these books. I’d look forward to visiting my Grandparents of course, but I also enjoyed sitting on their living room couch with several books beside me. Little Women was always part of my reading list. My Grandfather would stay in his own chair and watch TV while I’d sit there oblivious of him, lost in the world of the Marches.
Then I grew up and didn’t touch those books for a huge number of years. I had encyclopedias now and a library card. I also began reading Nancy Drew mysteries shortly after. The Books of Knowledge stayed in their own dark corner.
Then my grandfather died. I wrote a eulogy for him, and I had to go through a lot of digging in my memories of him to come out with just the right words. I didn’t get to write about The Books of Knowledge in my eulogy, but I highly associate them with him.
I have inherited The Books of Knowledge. They’re still there in their dark corner on the high shelf. I can’t bring them to our apartment because we don’t have space for the books, but my heart is at peace that I get to take care of these books. When I have a bigger place, I will put them in their own special spot in a huge bookshelf, on a high corner where I would need to pull a chair to stand on and climb the bottom shelf again to get the book with Little Women in it.
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An old pic of Wowo making “mano” to my cousin Max, taken in the mid-90s. That’s his living room corner chair. The sofa behind Max is where I would read the Books of Knowledge. |
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No one sits there now but his memory lives on for me not only in the stories we share but in the little things he has left behind. The little things that we now have to take care of. |
Thanks for those books, Wowo. You shared your love for reading with me and I am truly grateful for that. I promise you I’ll take very good care of these books. I promise you that I will pass on our passion for reading to my future children too and proudly share with them that these Books of Knowledge were from my only Wowo.
I’m feeling much better, I’m still on antibiotics but I have my voice back and I’m a strong woman again so what’s the first thing I’m gonna do? Catch up on my friends’ blogs!!! Oooh yeah!
But before that, here’s another thing I wanna share with y’all. It’s my quick and easy recipe for a new dish I experimented with. Very yummy, very easy.
What I did:
I cooked my shell macaroni according to pack’s directions. When done, drain. Now in a hot wide skillet, pour in about two tablespoons of olive oil and fry some crushed garlic cloves. The more garlic, the merrier. Can you just tell I’m a garlic lover? When almost brown, stir in the tuyo flakes. I have several bottles of tuyo at home so I just got a few pieces and shred them. This dish will taste even better if you have fresh tuyo from the grocery or market and cook ‘em and flake ‘em! Yum. After about two minutes, stir in the pasta. Let it dance around with the garlic and the tuyo flakes! You can also add some grated parmesan cheese if you like.
Can you smell the marriage of the garlic and the tuyo already? Lovely. Grab a plate, pile it up with pasta and get some greens to balance the saltiness. I had mine with romaine lettuce on the side and it was fantastic.
Tuyo with pasta? Oooh yeah. Lovely combination and a very tasty one too. Enjoy!
After hopping around some blogs, I found a new kind of poem floating around. I traced the original template to this site. It was a beautiful exercise and a very personal tribute to my own history. I’d like to share it with you. This poem is for Mama and Daddy.
I am from Nancy Drew mysteries, from Nido and wooden sofas stripped off its pillows.
I am from the home on the hilltop, with green gates that sang when moved back and forth, with screen doors and jalousie windows that kept me rooted in its cove but reminded me of the possibilities that could be.
I am from the tall Indian trees, the nectar of pink and yellow santan flowers that teased my childlike curiosity.
I am from Sunday is Family Day and burying noses in books, from Josephine and Ito and Jose.
I am from the overly dramatic mood swings and making up with a hug, a kiss, an I-love-you.
From stand-in-the-corner and Jesus-is-your-best-friend.
I am from a room lit only by candles, my grandfather leading the rosary with his booming voice, while we all knelt and responded and my knees hurt beneath my school uniform.
I’m from the city hospital and summers at hot springs, Smurfs cereal and tuyo.
From the dropping of a santol on my sister’s head to see if it would bounce, the silly dances of my father to make babies laugh, and the waking up on weekends to my mother’s beautiful piano-playing. (I would stay in bed long after I woke up, just closing my eyes some more and listen as her fingers would fly over the ivories and engulf me in that melody that is home.)
I am from the pile of worn-out photo albums, from diaries of a world that seemed to crash with broken hearts and rise again with new crushes, from letters that have traveled the world and settled at my doorstep, from bedtime stories and joyful reminiscing over mahjong games, words that tell me I can always come home, that make me proud and happy and grateful of my family’s legacy of love and laughter.
And just when you thought you’re the closest you ever could be, you’re brought even closer together.
Then any headache, any fever, any sore throat becomes insignificant, trivial, nothing you can’t get over.
And the holding of hands, the kisses on the forehead and the loving words of comfort ease all the pain away, leaving no more trail of sweat and midnight tears, just warm embraces and peaceful dreams.
Then you know, you just know, that it is in his arms that you are truly safe, that you are truly home, that you truly live.
Still Sick
I’ve been sick since my last post. I’m still dealing with a bad cough and a sore throat. Can you hear my wheezing and hacking all the way where you are? Yeah, it’s that bad. But here I am at work anyway finishing up on a report. Hopefully after all the hulabaloo on this project is over, I’m gonna take a week off from work and just relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax. I just wanted to post so you know I’m still alive and coughin’, but hopefully I’ll be alive and kickin’ ASAP! Thanks for all your advice, words of comfort and prayers.
I’ve got White on my mind
Whenever I have free time, I look around for nice white templates I can use for this blog. I love the color green but a nice white background is what I’m after now. However, cyberspeak isn’t my best language so dealing with all those advanced HTML stuff frustrates me. If anyone knows a place where I can get a clean white template that’s not too bare, please do leave me a note.
The O.C.
Some of you asked if I was obsessive-compulsive. I am, to some degree.
- I’m organized when it comes to making presentations. Everything has to be aligned, major points consistently in bold fonts, commas in the right place, each word readable when projected. My ex-officemates gave me a “MagnaVision Award” and my trophy was a magnifying glass.
- At home, I don’t like the smell of food permeating the whole apartment. Since we live in pretty cramped quarters and we love to cook, taking out the smell is a big headache. I use my Mom’s apple-scented candles to help drive out the foody smell after we eat.
- After cleaning the bathroom, I like everything sparkling clean. The littlest bit of leftover scum makes me grumpy.
- Same goes with washing dishes. Even the sink has to be sparkling afterwards.
- I don’t like seeing dustballs! They make me want to cry after I clean up the whole place and then I see one glaring at me in the corner of the room. Grrr.
I haven’t cleaned the house in almost a week now because of my sickness so you can imagine the dustballs, the bathroom and the smell of food permeating our home. It’s driving me nuts but oh well, gotta take care of myself first. Once I’m well though, nakuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! I’m gonna clean the whole place with a vengeance. So do these things make me O.C.? Naaaah, I think this just means I like taking proper care of things. Charing!
Okay back to work, back to work. Just couldn’t resist dropping by. Will visit your blogs soon, soon, soon.
Things are changing for the better. Yeah, that’s cool.
I never thought cleaning the bathroom could be so therapeutic. Once I scrub away the scum and grum and see the tiles all a-glistenin’, I feel so much better.
The bed is made every morning once I get out of it. It started out as a 21-day habit thing (do something straight for 21 days and it’ll become a habit). Ta-da! Making the bed is now part of my morning ritual.
The sink is looking cleaner everyday. No more dirty dishes left in the sink that’d gross me out when I’d come home from work. Nada. I love it that a good clean home welcomes me after a long day.
I’m writing in my journal again. I have a really pretty notebook by my bedside. It’s been awhile since I’ve written poetry, short stories and the like. I recently have been buying back issues of Writer’s Digest and other magazines on writing. They have really good ideas that’ll get you moving on writing. Love it.
A new tradition at my family’s house has been set. Every time I visit my family, it is now a tradition that we cook a dish together. It started off with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Sassy’s Oh-So-Delicious Stew, Puffi Cones, then the most recent one was Shell Macaroni with Tuyo Flakes. Haven’t written about that one yet. Anyway it’s nice to start new traditions especially those that bond the family together.
P.S. In other news, I think the next American Idol’s gonna be a guy. I’m rooting for Mario (a mix between Wilmer Valderama and Justin Timberlake), Bo (rocker dude!) and Anwar (Bob Marley-looking music teacher). Constantine’s very charismatic but his vocals are nowhere as good as his fellow rocker’s. As for the rest of the guys and girls, well, sorry! I have my favorites. And they’re all cute too.
P.P.S. I’ve been uber-busy the past few days and I think work has taken a toll on my health. I am feeling terribly sick at the moment and feel my breath getting all hot. Yeah, that’s my signal that uh-oh, things are gonna get bad. Add to that a bad headache, some chills and a coming fever. Oh God, please not now. I have so much work to finish. Will catch up on all your blogs the soonest. For now, work beckons again and will have to rest this weak body o’ mine.
