drop biscuits (daw!)

another surprise this afternoon!!! was supposed to be baking drop biscuits very similar to Texas Chicken's (remember, guys, the bread dripped with honey or jam???). the end result was not so different from pan de sal. harharhar....funny, but it was a nice surprise. this was a very easy recipe and i plan to put something inside the bun next time...maybe pork asado or tuna and cheese? whatever!

spanish bread...err..cake :))

i don't know how this cake-like concoction was named 'spanish bread' in the recipe. i thought i was going to bake something similar to the philippine good ol' spanish bread that we usually buy from our neighboring bakeries. hehehe...

a great ball of fire

this was taken from our apartment. actually, i saw the 'weird' color of the sky from my bedroom so i went out to the terrace to check. it was turning to dusk but before light gave way to darkness, i saw the sun looking like a menacing ball of fire!

glazed donuts

barno is in iuj right now visiting bob. again, because of boredom, i was forced to rummage through our pantry. i found some cake mix and turned it into several donuts. don't ask me how they taste...i haven't tried yet.

sotanghon guisado

since barno said she has not tried sotanghon cooked this way yet, i hastily looked for its recipe and voila! we had sotanghon for dinner...breakfast....lunch...dinner again....waaaaa......

obviously...not!

it's mwah...when bored. our kitchen is my sanctuary when things seem to go from bad to worse. barno once commented that i get my culinary inspiration from boredom. maybe...maybe not. ;)

chicken burritos

this was my first attempt to make burritos. sorry, the shredded cheese was not included in the picture. i made the tortilla from scratch and did not know how it would turn out. barno later raved about its taste. me? i thought the tortilla can be improved by softening it a bit. ;)))

recipe for tortilla:

4 cups flour
2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoon shortening
1 1/4 cup water

***mix ingredients together, knead into dough, divide into 12 balls, let them rest for 10 minutes, roll the balls until they become thin and cook in an ungreased pan for about two minutes on each side.

recipe for salsa:

tomatoes
onion
mango
jalapeno pepper
chicken breast

***except for chicken, mince and mix everything together and chill. boil chicken breast and when done, shred it into small pieces. mix the chicken meat with the rest of the ingredients. serve the salsa on the tortilla, add in lettuce and shredded cheese, roll the tortilla into burritos...eat with gusto.

john lloyd cruz

wala lang. cute lang sya...hahaha...;)

maruya

one day i woke up wondering what to do with lots of over-ripe bananas. this was the result...and i suddenly remembered growing up in the province with my grandmother who used to make something like this. of course, her version was so much tastier. ;)

recipe:

overripe banana
flour
sugar
water
salt

***as usual, i don't measure exactly the proportion of the ingredients. i just go by "feeling." just mash the banana and add in the other ingedients. just make sure that the dough is solid enough to be rolled into balls. deep fry.

tenpura: shrimp and vegetable

this is one japanese dish that barno taught me how to make. easy but totally yummy!!!

jds fellows having fun!

sometimes you find friends from among strangers and you'll realize that you have never been this happy in a long, long while. these pictures were taken during the birthday of a filipino jds scholar (2nd batch) -- pey (the one in gray t-shirt). it was one fun-filled night when laughter was spontaneous and sincere. teka lang...bakit wala si woody sa pics???

i am a writer

this morning i got to talk to my good friend and former editor, jay. we were talking about the magazine which has grown dear to our heart through the years. this magazine, which used to nurture my love for words, is being reformatted and jay will no longer be its editor. internal politics, you know. i feel a deep sense of loss because of this sad news. for nearly a decade jay and the others who worked hard to keep the magazine floating, were a family to me. in a flick of a finger, they are gone.

if there is one thing that i have always been thankful for, it's that i was given the rare chance to write for magazines with national circulation. i used to write for four magazines, then three, then two...until i finally found my niche in mr&ms.

mr&ms was a product of the political upheaval of the early '80s. it was first published to expose the rotting system of the marcos regime. gradually, as the atmosphere in the political arena changed, mr&ms also evolved into what it has become right before i left the country. while other weekly magazines dealt mainly with women's issues, mr&ms tried to cater to all sexes.

i don't know what i will do when i go back home this october. mr&ms will still be there, this time headed by another friend, but it's different already. once more, it has buckled to change; this time for economic reasons. still, i will always bring with me the good memories of being a part of that family.

i am a writer. i can say this with more confidence now, and all because of mr&ms.

terrified

it's early in the morning and i was thinking about ghosts. one ghost in particular.

a few days ago, as i was looking at a friend's friendster album, i saw a picture of my former flame/partner/chuva/boytoy/boylet...whatever. i could have been wrong, you know. i could barely see his face in that throng of people (it was a group pix) and when i tried to decipher the shape of his hands/fingers (his self-declared asset...being a talented pianist), i couldn't. the picture was too small for details to be clear.

yet, i just knew it was him. i felt it. when blood started rushing from my toes to my head and i felt this sudden wozziness, i knew.

i am not about to start getting all serious and nostalgic here. it's just that i cannot believe that after nearly a decade, he still has this effect on me. granted that once in a while i still wonder what happened to him after he disappeared from my life...but that's all there is to it. sure, sometimes i secretly wish i'd bump into him here in tokyo. then again, after accidentally looking at his mere picture and feeling the way i did, i don't think it's a sound idea, after all.

it's scary to realize that you haven't shaken a ghost from the past out of your system yet. still, i won't force the issue as i don't know how to go about doing it. initially, i thought time will blur -- if not erase -- his mark on me, but as years went swiftly by, i was proven wrong. now, i know better. last week, it has never been more obvious.

i just have to wait...and pray. one day, everything will be calm. i hope.

my home

this is the apartment in tokyo that barno and i called home for two years! if these walls can talk, they will only whisper of happy memories and animated laughter.

chicken with corn in mushroom sauce

i do not know what to call this dish. it's basically made of slightly fried chicken meat which i mixed in sauteed garlic, onion, bell pepper, potato and corn. i poured in mushroom soup, sprinkled salt and lots of pepper, and then simmered it till its sauce became thick. as always, i served the dish hot!

what now?

when my adviser told me that my thesis work was already okay, "except, perhaps, you should write at least two paragraphs about neo-liberalism to contextualize your study," i became ecstatic.

but the euphoria was short-lived. after writing the two paragraphs, what then? will i start rolling my eyes towards the ceiling again for lack of anything better to do? will i start gaining weight just so i will have an excuse to check my weighing scale every now and then? what? what? what?

i could try looking for a new job, you know. yeah, that would be more productive. but where do i start? nothing seemed so interesting. should i start with the adb? with the world bank? hah! lofty ambitions. but it's free to dream, right? i have always wanted to work with the united nations. maybe i could try there too? i don't know. it's not that i will be jobless when i go back home. but what if my needs will already be different? i am scared to be disappointed. what if when i go back i'll discover that i have changed and my office has not? that would be like stepping into an x-file episode. how will i fit in then? i still don't know the answer to this.

like i said, i am also thinking of engaging in a food business. i am not about to go full-blast and big time on this right away. i want to start small...and see if through hard work, it will prosper. i am eyeing the cookie business. probably, i'll start in school canteens or in offices. this project excites me a lot and i am even thinking of enroling at heny sison's baking class when i go home.

really now, i am like stranded on an islet...with nothing but my brain to keep me company. how i will be able to survive and how i will cope, i have yet to find out. :(

a moment of gratitude

if there is one thing that reinforced my belief in GOD, it is the changing of the seasons -- something which became even more apparent to me when i came to japan. i have truly been blessed to experience winter with its pristine snow; spring -- my favorite season -- with its beautiful flowers and fresh air; summer with its hot days perfect for going to the beaches; and fall for its gold and red world. now that the time has come for me to prepare for going home, i pay homage to the beautiful country that has welcomed and nurtured me for two consecutive years, as if i were its own. thank you, japan...and most of all, thank you GOD for this beautiful gift!

sandwiches for breakfast

last night, i found out that we have loaves and loaves of bread inside the fridge. since barno and i started eating rice, we seemed to have totally ignored them. i was supposed to make bread pudding out of the crumbs but i could not find the recipe i have in mind. to make the long story short, i decided to make tiny open sandwiches: tuna and cheese, butter and strawberry jam. for a change, i made deviled eggs too. we ended up gobbling all.

wala lang...

http://www.manilastandardonline.com:8080/mnlastd/ContentLoader?page=jojoRobles_june06_2005

guess...

zino zhah?!!! ;)

dinner ala uzbekistan

tonight, barno cooked. this is actually a vegetable dish made of eggplant, tomato, garlic and other spices. as i was too lazy to do anything, i just watched her from the sidelines. when i asked what's the name of the dish, she said she does not know too. in uzbekistan, where she comes from, they simply call it fried eggplant topped with tomato sauce (obviously!) ;) delicious is the only word i can describe it with.

doll collection

this is my joy in japan...collecting wooden dolls. since they're expensive when bought brand-new, i just visit flea markets to look for them. this hobby was actually inspired by my friend, joanne, who has her own collection too. ang cute naman kasing tingnan kung marami sila, di ba? my problem is how to transport them to the philippines. ang bigat kaya! never mind, maybe i'll just hand-carry them when i go home.

cookies II

melt-in-your-mouth chocolate crinkles...wala na naman akong magawa the whole day. driven by this desire to put up a cookie business when i go back home, i've been trying to perfect the recipes of the cookies i love best. next in line: chocolate chip cookies and biscotti!!! yum, yum,yum...;)