australian tea

my favorite dev manager was here last week with his wife. they had a holiday in australia and on their way home to switzerland, they dropped by sunny singapore. i was really excited to see them because his soul is one of the gentlest souls i've ever met. i call him "marco the great".

he never raises his voice no matter how ugly the project situation may be. "we do our best" - this is what he always says and i love that line. it invites no further arguments or questions. he values and respects every member of the team and so he unknowingly and indirectly earns respect as well.

when i had to move to a different project, i was devastated because i love this project in the same way that i love working with the team members... but nothing is ever permanent.

marco and his wife, bea, are so perfect as a couple. they have been married for so long but they are still being mistaken as honeymooners :) how lovely. bea doesn't know that much english. during our dinner, marco was bea's translator. how sweet. :) if i could, i'll get them as ninong and ninang hahaha!

was a good night. they had many stories to tell from their australia adventures, cultural differences, and a lot more other wonderful stuff. that plus this australian tea as keepsakes. wonderful couple. lovely souls.

back on track

i was so tamad today so i decided to go for a quick run para mabuhay naman ang dugo. i haven't done this for sooooo long.

wow pati pag jog may picture :p

so nice the afternoon skies :) these lovely sights one won't see on a treadmill :)

i'm not getting any younger. i know i owe my body so much for not exercising for a very long time. too much work :( if only i could make a dedication to jog for at least 30 mins a day, it would be perfect. the more stressed you are at work, the more you need to exercise!

note: after this run, i bought ruffles cheddar and sour cream and regular coke and i devoured on them! what a life! :) life's little rewards. ah, eh... hello? :) how lame.

keyla's first habanyas

during our first singapore trip (dec 2006), we asked cecil what she wants for pasalubong. she excitedly exclaimed, "habanyas ate!" mommy and i were clueless and speechless for a few minutes until we finally figured out she was referring to havaianas!

wow chochal! from then on, we also call havaianas "habanyas". and no, we didn't get her havaianas for pasalubong :p

lookie look! here is keyla's first pair of habanyas! so cute! it's still a bit big for her and it's not as if she could walk already! so it's just a porma pair. hahaha!

leche flan frenzy

last weekend, we attended 2 birthday partehs and our toka was leche flan. i only have 3 lyaneras so to make 9 leche flans, i had to make 3 batches. boy, i was so tired. i will not be in the mood to make leche flan in the next 20 years! i just found this recipe on the internet. nothing fancy but i think it's pwede na :) super daling gawin. 3 batches - ibang storya yan harharhar!

10 egg yolks

1 can condensed milk

1 big can evaporated milk

for the caramel:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1. to make the caramel, combine water and sugar. bring to a boil until it caramelizes.

2. pour the caramel into lyaneras.

lesson learned: i feel this is a better technique --> instead of adding water and caramelizing in a pot, use only sugar. put in lyaneras and "burn" the sugar by putting the lyaneras over fire - this one's faster! i'll do this next time :)

3. mix the egg yolks, condensed milk, evaporated milk. beat until well blended. pour into the lyanera with caramel. steam for about 20 minutes. you'll know it's done if you pierce it with a knife and the knife comes out clean!

my lola floring (bless her) used katya to filter any impurities but i haven't tried this yet - thus all the impurities! hahaha!

and finally!!!!! here's the finished product:

acheche! walang pic :) hehehe. well, you know what a leche flan looks like :p that's all folks!

breakfast meal

yummy breakfast one weekend. ikea hotdog and fried rice (c/o tita) and cadburry choco drink.

effective si teh

last week, i've seen a lot of twitter posts mentioning angel aquino's superb acting on magkaribal. i searched for the episode online and she was great indeed! parang sya ang favorite ko sa magkaribal hehe ;) kahit hindi ako nanonood ng magkaribal (idol lang ang pinapanood ko), like ko sya!

toma tayo!

last friday, we had that fine hoegaarden beer. today, i found some milk in the ref and so i'm in my wholesome mode today. cold glass of melk. :) and now i'm getting sleepy.

tao everywhere

IT fair na naman! look at all these people! crowded na naman sa suntec kanina. good for them at may pangbili sila :) hehehe.

this was at the city hall escalator. see that crowd? ano kayang bibilhin nila pagdating nila sa IT fair? i took this pic and totally forgot that my phone has a flash now. dyahe! nag flash sa harap ng madlang people. as if they care naman e no? :) ummm, parang ang subject ko ay ang curly hair ni ate. pasensya.

sizzling sizzler

jan and i were having a late lunch at kfc last week. in the middle of an umaatikabong chika, i accidentally glanced at this resto, sizzler, just across kfc. i told her that we should try to eat there one friday. apparently, marco recommended this to her and it's A-ok daw.

friday's here! susme parang pang date naman ang ambiance hahaha! the lunch meals include the salad buffet, soft serve buffet (we assumed this is all about ice cream!), and drinks. i ordered sirloin steak. while waiting for our meal, we tried the salad buffet. my my! it was superb! so many choices! i didn't get too much to save some room for my tipak ng karne. i didn't take a pic of my salad plate. it didn't look as appealing as it tasted. :p

i know i'm not a fan of sirloin but i wasn't in the mood for fish today. it was the only thing that looked good. this time around, it didn't taste as appealing as it seemed. hahaha! so-so. remind me never to take sirloin again. the gravy was groovy though. groovy gravy :) baked potato was fine, but a bit too buttery.

i spotted these lucky me pancit canton look-alike pasta. i've been craving for lucky me for the longest time so i thought i'll have it with my dessert. impostor! it didn't taste anything like lucky me at all :)) it tasted like sesame oil (lang). eek. at least dessert was lovely too. :) this is choco ice cream with sprinklers on top, with yoghurt ice cream at the bottom. hehe. love love :)

mental note: next time, don't get a main course. the salad is hearty enough! tastes even better :) healthier pa. san ka pa? o ha?!

combo breakfast meal

it's almost the time of the month. kasabay ng pagwiweird ng mood ko ay ang pagwiweird din ng panlasa ko. to add flavor to my usual taho breakfast, i pigged on these heavenly ruffles cheddar and sour cream chips. whoever invented this flavor is a genius. it's the best i've tasted! perfect combination with my tahoe!

trinkets

well, not really :)

look at these lovely "toys" :)

1. the red giraffe was a christmas present from the kind-hearted dev boys at work. bless them. imagine, they don't event celebrate christmas and yet they gave me and jan christmas presents! i can't remember if we named the twin giraffes amal and amor. hehe.

2. the plant was given by janise when i was low-spirited. for this reason, i named it hope. yup, i hate how it is associated with the belo girl but i can't think of a name that would better describe it. it gave me hope. yesterday, i saw a yellow leaf and i plucked it. i called it white hair. hehe. one day, i'll have my first white hair. i won't pluck it. i promise.

3. the silver/gold thing pinned on the wall is a doll made by one of the dev boys. he made it out of chocolate wrappers. cute :) such a waste to throw it away so i pinned it :) nice no? i haven't named it yet. maybe i'll name it guoya guinto. :)