What A Week!

My dormant, predictable, routinary life suddenly shooted into a very much active, spontaneous mode last week. With starting a new job, hearing the news of the death of a loved one, a visit to the hospital to see another loved one who underwent a major surgery, confirming some news that I know I'd be envious of, flying to the Philippines over the weekend and seeing people I miss and confronting those I wish I could avoid, I could only think of one word to best describe all of these - overwhelming.

There was a great degree of play of emotions from happy to sad, scared to confident, angry to calm, notwithstanding the mental as well as physical impacts. But thankfully, I didn't get rattled and evenmore, it was the positive emotion that dominated.

This week, I am hoping that it would be more manageable and I'd be able to get adjusted to my new non-dormant routine. It is both exciting and challenging, I hope I'd get the hang of it.

I think I would. ;)

For Lola

Blessed be your soul

As you join the angels in heaven.

Thank you for all the love and care,

For all the memories we share.

I will remember you for your warm embrace,

I will remember you for how you kissed us with your face.

Your smile and your stories will forever be our grace.

Break-In

Today I wore my new high-heeled shoes and much as I hoped that this pair of shoes would not give me blisters on my feet, unfortunately, as like most of that type of shoe I've bought, it did.

But it did not matter, because I wore it this morning when I went out to sign an offer of employment. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, by next week I will start my new job. Yipee! :) (*dance of joy*)

That pair of shoes was actually something I bought for a job that I thought was for me last month but which I rejected because of a lot of bad surprises and ultimately an unacceptable contract clause which I believe was already bordering illegal. Clearly it wasn't meant for me because I was meant to have what I have prayed for.

Everything makes sense now, all that effort and waiting...it was all worth it. What I'm feeling right now is exactly how I imagined I'd feel -- like finding the key which would give way to opening more happiness in fulfilling more dreams. God has again shown me how things which are meant for me would happen at the right time. His way always amazes me, I can never guess how He would answer my prayers, but He does, just not in the way I thought I'd have it. I really have to remind myself that faith is about believing without asking how and when.

Thank You, Lord. I am so blessed. :)

My First Baking Adventure

I've always wanted to learn baking but I never got the chance to learn it at home when I was growing up. I don't even have a memory of my mother baking something. We had an electric stove with oven but which we stopped using since I was about seven years old I think. I clearly remember my mother telling us that it was shorted and she got electrecuted while using it. And that was the start of my subconscious fear of electric stoves and ovens. We never bought a new oven. But I've always been looking at baking stuff eversince, subconsciously longing to try to bake as well. I remember being excited during my teens when I saw an ad on TV about a chocolate cake that doesn't need baking but just needed to cool in the refrigerator. I wanted that. But well, I never got to try it because it never makes it to our grocery list.

Anyhow...today is the day I finally hugged baking hello :)

Ok, the blueberry muffins I baked were from an instant mix but still I am very proud of my achievement. It's the way to start, isn't it? It was so fun and relaxing to see the muffins puff out of the baking tray. And I really didn't expect that it was going to be this easy. I thought the challenge was to take out the muffins from the tray without crushing them (I didn't use paper baking cups) but surprise surprise, the muffins came out of the tray without almost an effort to pull them out. I am so happy with my non-stick baking tray, very good quality indeed, I didn't even have to put butter.

Or maybe because I had a good brand of batter mix? Thank you, Betty Crocker for making my first baking experience a success! :) The recipe and instructions were so easy to follow. The only challenge I had was to convert farenheit to celcius and to wipe off the blueberry extract on the sink (careful on the blueberries, they stain!) The tips on using low cholesterol, low fat ingredients were great. I used soy milk instead of normal milk and I used olive oil instead of a normal vegetable oil. Although I did a little tweak for my second batch of muffins because I noticed that the first batch were a bit toasted from the suggested temperature and duration.

first set, baked in 20 minutes at 200 degrees celcius

second set, baked in 16 minutes at 190 degrees celcius

Ahhh, I am so inspired that my next goal is to bake from scratch. Let's see if I could actually make my own batter. Perhaps I'm a natural baker? Hehehe ;p

I'm a Thunder Lizard!

Hear ye! Hear ye!

I just broke my record! Woohoo!

I discovered Dynomite eight years ago during my programmer days when I needed some form of amusement as I ate my packed lunch on my office desk. Then I forgot about it as I lived more of the real life instead of the virtual. Now that I have lots of time, it is great to rediscover it again. But I have to warn you that this is quite addictive so unless you have a strong self control and actually have spare time, do not try this! Hehehe.

Thank you Yahoo Games for this wonderful game which keeps me company and helps me pass time on these bumming days. My hubby is also now addicted to this game (uh-oh).

P.S. Don't tell me I didn't warn you that this is addictive. Seriously. Hehehe. ;p

Happy egg-smashing!

Chokos!

In my quest to cook tinola for my hubby, I tried to find the essential ingredient which is a green papaya or a sayote (chayote). I've observed that both are not commonly found in groceries and markets here in Singapore. In the first big grocery we went to, the best I could find was a ripe papaya. Then I went to a grocery near our place, hoping to find any of them. I found a green papaya alright (imported from the Philippines), but I had a feeling it is already ripe even if it is green outside. I was ready to get it anyway and I was also planning on getting an old cucumber as a supplement until finally, after a gazillion times of walking round and round the vegetable area, I found the sayote! And they're not called sayote here but chokos! Hehehe.

So there, ladies and gentlemen, I have successfully cooked tinolang manok (chicken tinola) which my hubby rated 10 out of 10. Yay! :)