Year of the Tiger

Haven't been feeling like my old self the past couple of weeks. It was gloomy, definitely in the depressive state of mind which results to a ton of food binging. Can't pin-point exactly the cause of this condition but at the back of my mind, it's probably got to do with entering into a new year in accordance to the Chinese calendar which is the year of Tiger... mixed reviews for those born in the year of Monkey, some said it's a definite bad year while others said it's not bad.

I've never been the type to be superstitious nor do I even care about these predictions but it seems to be hitting me pretty hard this year. I even went to this Thai temple with a friend just 5 mins away from my house to pray on the second day of CNY. It was a nice change because I have not step foot into any temples since I was home which was in 2006, that's about 4 years' time. I joined the pray session then we ate the food that everyone brought. After that my friend asked one of the monk to see what's in store for me this year. He said it was going to be a very bad year in terms of financial, health, work and may encounter into auto accident. All of these issues will be hoovering up in the air until I turn 30.

So, that's another 8 more months to be extra careful. I sort of took it to heart and the monk said that he will perform a prayer for me, but I have to gather a whole bunch of stuff for the session and here's a list based on what I've remembered -- 30 flowers of a kind, 30 fishes preferably gold, 30 dollars, he will also need white fabric about 6 feet. I also need to provide all the nails from my fingers and toes, some hair, a drop of blood and also a cut out of fabric from an old pair of shirt and pants that I've worn. All this was meant to 'kill' me so all the bad things that tagged me will die along with me. After that I will be born again... and we have to do all this on a Thursday which was the day I was born.

I took all these information in and then the more I thought about it, the more skeptical I was getting. I've been through so many years before I think I can handle this one without having to kill anyone, literally or not, myself especially. So, maybe that's why I was feeling gloomy. I wasn't in the mood to do anything, didn't feel like working, didn't feel like cooking, nothing at all. But, yesterday for one reason or another, after work, I felt like a burden has lifted off my shoulders. I don't know why. Then after that it rained, I knew the rain was coming but it was so exhilarating, I felt as if the rain has washed away all my worries.

With a good night sleep, as cliché as it may sound, I found myself renewed (Saturdays are usually reserved for sleep-ins, etc), but today we went out to iHop for breakfast then after that drove to Burbank to buy two boxes of Krispy Kreme, then after that to Van Nuys to get Boston Market for dinner. Stopped by at my friend's house to deliver her a box of donuts to thank her for her friendship. Then off to the bank to get some money. It may sound like a food-filled day, I admit it was, but I don't think it was a form of denial or anything like that, because I eat when I'm sad, I eat when I'm happy, I eat for no reason haha I'm just a food addict.

Well, here are some food pictures -- oh at Boston Market, because we have to wait for the chicken noodle soup to be cooked, the manager offered free drinks, how awesome is that!

On the way home, we stopped by the Vietnamese/Chinese temple which is only 3 blocks away from my house. I totally forgot about this place when I first discovered it years back when we first moved to the SFV area when it was still under construction. My friend took me to this temple last week after the Thai temple to just visit it, and it was a gem! Who would have thought there are two temples within 3 miles radius from where I live!! Incredible. I feel so at home :)

It's not a big temple like the ones that I'm used to back home, but it's not that bad at all especially in a residential area.

Sick... again!

How fun is that, right? Thought I've gotten over it last year during Christmas -- slept three days straight. And now, it's back. What is up with this weather? I am not the only one though, a few of my co-workers already had their seconds and my co-worker said her sister-in-law already had her third. Incredible. I usually get by with just once, but this is a record for me, twice within 2 months. That's unheard of!

And the oozing doesn't seem to be slowing down...

Back-breaking task

Last month at work, we gathered around two Rosca de Reyes (bread) to celebrate the wise men and to see who are the lucky eight that will be preparing grand dishes for us on the second of February. The bread is big and round and has figurines inside (Baby Jesus) and participants are given a piece of the bread. The lucky ones would have Baby Jesus in their piece.

Myself and two other co-workers happened to be so lucky. We discussed what to prepare for the luncheon. Initially, another co-worker offered to help me with tamales (I believe it's a tradition to have tamales), but another co-worker from another department decided to make molé with tortillas, so we scratched out the tamales. Instead, I opted to make ceviche de jaiva (imitation crab ceviche).

After a total of 5 hours of non-stop chopping... here's the end product. Yum-O! Oh, that's suppose to feed 25 people, along with other food the others are bringing.

Ice Skating

Went along with friend PP to her daughter's ice-skating practice. After her practice, the daughter insisted that I joined her for a freestyle session. As a requirement, in order to not embarass myself, I asked PP to join us as well, but the daughter did not want her mother to join us. To please her daughter's wish, I got into my skates and into the big ice rink I go.

While putting my rental skates on, a friend came by to say hi and he was going into the rink which was a good thing because he gave me some pointers and skated with me for about half a rink. I was not as nervous as I thought I would be and I was doing pretty well skating a little at a time without hogging the wall. Then about halfway, I thought I was doing really good and try to speed up a little, then without paying much attention to my balance, I slipped backward, on my butt. Wow, I haven't landed on my butt for a long time and boy it hurt so bad on impact haha

He helped me up and I stood up again on my skates but this time paying more attention. He says to bend knees, but then I remembered with roller-blading, we'd have to lean forward and that helped me a lot too with ice-skating. The first round on the rink was absolute torture and slow but I got much better as I go around and faster and with more confidence. I think in total I did about 10 rounds and I could feel that my feet was getting tired. I stepped out of the rink and changed into my sneakers, it felt weird walking after that.

All in all, it was not too bad of a first experience. I'm liking ice-skating and will be doing a lot more skating in the future :)

Laziness

Oohh, been so lazy... Didn't prepare food for today's lunch, so just brought salted duck eggs and tomatoes. It's actually pretty good -- Filipino co-worker taught, just cubed the tomatoes and smashed the eggs, and mixed. Voila, best eaten with steam rice. Wow!

Will be going to watch friend's daughter ice-skating this Saturday in Valencia. Oh how fun! Then Sunday will be preparing ceviche for 25 people (Tuesday's lunch). Then, um.. oh Chinese New Year next month!

Life is good, but I'm still broke. Pfftt...

Beautiful Sunset

Caught this on the way home on Brand Blvd. Loved the palm lined street -- creates a nice effect against sunset in the background.

Did a quick grocery shopping at Vallarta -- loved this place, fresh fruits and vegetables are so cheap! Got about a pound of carrots, 2 garlics, 6 brown onions, 1/2 lbs of green beans, 4 big tomatoes and a bunch of cilantro (for my jalapenos bread). Total came up to less than $7!! Can't beat the price that's for sure.

For dinner, I made spinach and shrimp stir fry with garlic and sambal olek sauce, it came out so good, I ate half of what I've cooked. I managed to save the other half for lunch tomorrow. I ended up having spinach teeth *bleah*

And lastly, my long awaited bake -- jalapenos bread. I've informed everyone at work that I will be bringing this bread for breakfast tomorrow. Oh, the white bread that I brought to work this morning along with a container of 'I can't believe it's not butter' spread, was gone before lunch time. I was stoked. Hopefully, this jalapenos bread will receive the same kind of treatment. I've tasted it, the texture is not as soft as white, because I've used one cup of wheat in lieu of regular flour even the recipe called for all white. It also called for corn meal, which sticks to my teeth everytime I take a bite. Other ingredients besides cilantro and jalapenos are corn. And here's the end result after more than 3 hours in the machine. Smells wonderful and has a hint of spicyness to it. I'll be bringing some provolone cheese to enjoy the bread with!

Sunny Sunday

I didn't sleep too good last night and I got out of bed at 6 when the alarm sounded. I went downstairs to check on the bread and sure enough it was done. The breadmaker turned off automatically but there were droplets underneath the bread. I hurriedly dried the bread and put it away in a bag and made another batch of white bread, hoping that it would be ready in time before I leave.

After I'm done with the bread, I thought I should make some food ahead of time so I can have for dinner or lunch at work tomorrow. I already have some ground pork out so I thought of making baked beans with pork. This is one of my favorite grandma's recipe -- yummy! Here's how it came out. It's great with rice or bread and I made two cans of these and have plenty to share with coworkers.

Visited my friend today at Norwalk, EB looked fine but she could not sit for long as her back starts to hurt. She entertained us as long as she could but finally start to lay down. We didn't do our usual outing with her this time due to her pain so we just sit and chatted at home. We got there around 9:30 and left around 12:00 and arrived in the valley around 12:30. We decided to grab lunch at Seafood City before depart ways. On the way home, saw the snow-capped mountain in the horizon. It's beautiful but you'll have to really zoom in to see the snow.

At Seafood City, there was this vendor with a small cart selling chestnut outside the building. It didn't look like much but the vendor offered us a sample each. It was surprisingly sweet. We thanked him and went inside the food court to have lunch. After we're done, we stopped by at the vendor again and we bought 10oz bag for $5 from him. Included with our purchase was a plastic cracker, made especially to crack the chestnut shells which was pretty neat. I didn't really pay attention to the packaging that the chestnuts came in, but it looked Chinese to me. The reason I pointed this out was Seafood City is a Filipino market and to have a Chinese vendor selling chestnuts right by the entrance was a tad awkward hehe

After picking up HD, we proceeded to Ralphs to do some grocery shopping and to get cold-cuts -- HD's favorite (and he won't eat any other cold-cuts as they have fillers *roll eyes*) -- Boar's head. They are SO expensive for said reason but they are really tasty. And here's a shot of them. We got the turkey, roast beef, ham and provolone. Since I made so many loaves of bread hehe might as well. I also bought a can of San Marcos jalapenos and a box of corn meal. I wanted to make the jalapenos bread but I forgot another ingredient: cilantro... darn, it was too late when I realized that.

Freshly made bread

A couple of friends and I planned a visit to a friend tomorrow who has been 'strucked' with cancer twice in a row. It is really unfortunate but she's been strong physically and emotionally. Support from family and friends do help in times like these. I really admire her strength and optimism after all that she's gone through and yet another round. Hopefully, this time around, it is for good.

Not sure of what to bring with me, I figured that I'll bring out the trusty bread-maker and whip up some breads. I've gone through my baking phase and it was really fun leaving all the baking for the machine and enjoy all the benefits once it's done and boy freshly baked bread can be so addictive. It tastes so good when it's warm, right out of the oven and the smell is just incredible!

So, here are two loaves that I've baked already, left is french rosemary and on the right is white. The white one came up kind of weird, the surfaces are not smooth like the other one. I think the recipe called for just regular oil but I used olive instead. Oh well, I'll try to be more specific next time.

I just put in another batch for regular french. The whole house smells like a bakery. I'm going to get some ingredients tomorrow after the visit to make jalapenos bread :D

Happy when it rains

Coming from a tropical country and been living in desert country for the past nine years, I embrace rain whenever and however often we get them. It's been raining for five straight days and this is supposed to be the first out of two storms -- best winter storm so far. Dark and grey clouds hovering over the mountains in the horizon, cold and crisp air doesn't seem to dampen my spirit one bit. As a matter of fact, I was telling my coworker that I wished it would rain harder, a real thunderstorm with loud thunders and striking lightnings. Oh, how nice it is to be tucked in bed in that type of weather.