I’ve decided that since I’ll be stuck here in Minnesota for quite some time, living in my own apartment, doing my own laundry, buying my own groceries, getting appliances and electronics, blah blah, I guess I’d chronicle my cooking adventures here. Whether the results suck or if it’s classified as gourmet status, considering my lack of talent in the kitchen, writing about it should be fun. So here goes…

Two nights ago, finding nothing else in the refrigerator except for a gallon of old-fashioned spaghetti sauce, and no meat as a filler. So we decided on cooking spaghetti sauce with Pinoy-style corned beef. Instead of onions, we settled for garlic. Chop garlic, and saute in olive oil. Mix in the tangy spaghetti sauce, add a little Jufran sweet-spicy ketchup (to get the Pinoy-style spaghetti taste, sweet, tangy and spicy). Pour sauce over cooked pasta and add lots of Parmesan cheese (as you will notice Parmesan cheese will be the main component of all my dishes - I am a cheese-lover).

Next dinner was just leftover ribs that we had for lunch at a nearby resto. Good thing we have a microwave.

The other dinner was just opening a large can of US-style corned beef (it’s less reddish and less salty than Pinoy-style, and it’s got small pieces of potatoes). And cheesy omelette.

Tonight, I was sitting here, trying to think of a dinner recipe from my very limited stock in the pantry. All I have is lots of corned beef from last night’s dinner and cheesy omelette combo, leftover pasta from two nights ago, a large onion, and a chunk of cheddar cheese. I was watching the Food Network, and I had a burst of inspiration. Suddenly, I am emboldened…

If we can make corned beef spaghetti, I can make corned beef carbonara!

Chop onions, saute in olive oil and butter, pour a few tablespoons of corned beef, add a can of mushroom soup, pour in a little bit of water, and melt in some chunks of cheddar. Pour sauce over cooked pasta. Voila! Beefonara (carbonara + corned beef)! Top with lots of Parmesan cheese. I did this dish the first time around, and thankfully, it tastes kinda good. I’m glad it wasn’t a disaster.

Maybe I’m starting to become a gourmet chef. Hahaha. I can’t cook the normal dishes - it’s the weird ones that I excel at.

Finally, I’m here.

I finally arrived in the US unscathed. I never realized I could be able to travel alone, considering my somewhat erratic sense of direction when I’m out of my marked territory (cross-country included).

I woke up early Saturday morning (Manila time) to be able to check-in to my flight promptly. After saying goodbyes to my family, I breezed through the check-in and departure processing stuff, carrying my favorite white hoodie (the consul who interviewed me for my visa advised me to bring warm clothes, so I did), but I realized that I lost it when I sat down by a cafe for a quick snack. Damn, that was my real favorite jacket. Anyway, not taking risks about the weather upon my arrival, I bought a sports jacket in a Duty Free shop (quite expensive, but anyway, it’s an investment when I return to Manila).

I stopped over Japan on a connecting flight to Minneapolis, in which I used some of my money to check my email and buy some lunch, only to find out that on my next flight they immediately served dinner and a bunch of snacks. So I was almost bursting at the seams when they shut off the cabin lights for half of the flight. I was worrying about having jet lag, but I forced myself to sleep every few hours to avoid being too tired when I arrive in US.

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… coffee is the reason for your existence
… you mix oats with coffee because you don’t have time to mix oats with milk, and because after eating your oatmeal you fear you don’t have any more room in your stomach for coffee
… you have a bunch of foodstuffs under your desk so you won’t have to get up and buy some snacks at a nearby convenience store
… you suddenly have this adrenaline rush for the first week of doing your work and the next week all your adrenaline runs out, so you end up slacking off through a mountainload of tasks
… you get utterly nostalgic when you see pictures of the beach
… you start closing your eyes in front of your desk and pretending you’re in deep thought when in fact you’re simply asleep
… you spend the whole weekend at home - to sleep
… the snooze button in your alarm clock is overused
… you never hear the alarm clock ringing
… you have a pillow, a blanket, bedroom slippers, spare clothes, and stuffed toys - within your workspace
… the shopping bug keeps on biting you
… lunch time is close to breakfast time because you come in to work at 10AM instead of the regular 8AM
… you spend your lunch break in the office to either work or sleep
… going to the gym is the only “life” you’ll get (one word: endorphins)
… you want to kill someone when the office elevator ends up stopping at every floor before yours
… you feel the urge to be competitive when people overtake you when you’re walking
… you think that peeing is a big waste of time
… you waste precious time desperately looking for your electronic ID so you can beep through the locked doors to get to the bathroom…

… only to find out you placed your ID inside the office fridge.

(continued…)

I have read over the net that Meyer has been compared with J K Rowling, but I say, she can’t compare with Rowling. Not that one is superior with the other, but I could only say that both are good in their own ways. I would say I am biased with Meyer, and I haven’t read any Harry Potter books in any way (I have this anti-fad complex), but I am not quick to judge either of them. They’re both good, or they wouldn’t have gotten this far. Harry Potter is in its last few movie installments, and Twilight is starting one.

Speaking about the upcoming Twilight movie, I actually was quite disappointed with the pick of characters, because I really have a few picks of my own. Although I was right that they should pick Pattinson (Cedric Digory in Harry Potter) as Edward - he’s beautiful enough as a vampire (there were other candidates). Bella’s up to my expectations as the plain, clumsy girl without the ethereal beauty as described in the book. Esme looks too old, though (I was thinking Liv Tyler beauty), Jasper looks like he’s having a perpetually bad hair day, and Rosalie should be like a model (e.g. Keira Knightley). Emmett’s kinda muscular and good-looking, I give him credit for that. Carlisle’s also OK. Alice should be really innocent-pretty (I was expecting more like Rachel McAdams, only more petite).

Looking at the trailer of Twilight that has been circulating in YouTube and other sites, I am having some doubts about the movie. The movie is mostly centered on the vampire attack on Bella, when in fact the whole book’s focus is about how the romance developed between the two main characters, Edward and Bella.

The fight scene was just a minor part of the book, the really juicy part was how they fell in love and tried to make the relationship work, despite their obvious differences (Hint: Edward’s in love with Bella, but Bella’s blood is so irresistible - how the heck can a relationship be more complicated than that). Add to that Bella’s uncanny penchant for all bad luck that Edward has to protect her always. The good parts just won’t end, and there were quips between the two that were beautifully done.

I can’t possibly describe everything without sounding like I’m over-praising. Better to read the book, I tell you. The next two installments, New Moon and Eclipse, are just as good. And, mind you, the plot will get to the part when they talk about sex and marriage, and that part was really sweet yet funny yet frustrating.

Oh, just read the book. Don’t get daunted by the thickness, it’s actually an easy read. I get the feeling it’s better than the movie. But then, doesn’t it always happen like that?

Gosh, I so love this book. These books, actually. This is more on my point of view, so to those who are starting to read it, don’t worry, spoilers are not part of this post.

I’m in the process of finishing the third book of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire series. I know, I know. It’s kind of a guilty pleasure. The book’s classified as for young adults, but it mostly caters to - well - teenagers? Well, comparatively, I look and act like a 16-year old, especially when I’m having a good day. So, I’m qualified, nyahhh. Either way, I think the book is for all ages who wants to delve into the “unconventional fictional romance” genre (I never realized I was a real hopeless romantic until I read this).

I actually happened on the first book by accident - Twilight. I was scouring the local bookstore for more things to read during the Lenten holidays then (which I ended up buying more than what I could read during the 4-day holiday), when this book caught my eye. I have no idea, but there was something that drew me into taking a look at it. After picking up the book and reading a few details at the back of it, I put it down because it felt like I wasn’t going to get a “heavy” reading out of it. So I walked around the bookstore, found a few books, Pride and Prejudice included. But I suddenly found myself including Twilight with the ones I was already carrying to the counter.

I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice when I picked up I am Legend (borrowed), and since I finished that last book I figured out that I didn’t want to break my momentum, reading about vampires and all that, so I picked up Twilight. Turns out that that was the start of my undoing. Hahahaha.

I devoured the first book in a few days. It’s riveting. I admit, it’s classified as light reading, but it was good and I just simply couldn’t stop flipping the pages. It was creative, the way Meyer described vampires in an unconventional way, and I could feel the passion firing up between the main vampire character and his human girlfriend. Sweet. Cute. And the whole falling in love process is not the mushy type, their dialogues have just enough spice, so it was not a childish, mushy, boring read. I like Bella’s dry sarcasm, I have lived too much in sarcasm that I am so used to it, it makes me laugh. Edward’s sweetness and protectiveness, his mix of perfectness and flaws is endearing. Alice is ever the flamboyant, impish, cheerful vampire everyone would fall in love with.

What can I say? Halfway through Twilight, I returned to the bookstore, and bought New Moon and Eclipse in hardbound. I was regretting I didn’t get Twilight in hardbound. But what the heck, I’m human, I can live with that.

(to be continued…)

I have no idea what to post actually… hehehe. It’s just that it’s been so long since I actually posted something on this site, and I was really amused with the number of comments that I get - I’m surprised that I get any reactions from my mostly dormant blog site.

Finally, it has risen. Minutely maybe, but rise it is, nonetheless. I’m content with that. I’ve always been wondering why I’m such a boring person, nothing to write besides complaining about work and gushing about my favorite cats, or writing really amateur movie reviews. Now that I think of it, it’s really pathetic, but I’m not actually feeling sorry for myself. I write because I like to say something. I hold on to the hope that someone out there could express any insane interest on what I have to say, because sometimes I get the feeling that people don’t take me that seriously. I won’t ramble about that. I guess it just is. There are some people whom other people always look for, and I guess I am part of the group that gets overlooked. Not putting myself down, but that’s the way it is. I’m hoping to break out of it, but I’ll have to clear a path first.

Hmm… so back to my usual topic. Hehehe.

A lot has been going on these past weeks. First of all, my work schedule has suddenly just gotten crazy, and it took quite an effort to keep my brain from falling into pieces. I have been balancing two projects right now, and both of them quite demanding. I basically wanted to clone myself. Other than that, there’s another big leap in my career - I’m not really up for broadcasting it, so we’ll see in the next few months. Hopefully I won’t burn out or nosebleed. There is another thing, but I won’t say much. We’ll see, we’ll see. It’s gonna be big. Well, for me, that is.

But I have another thing on my agenda. Enough of the puzzles - it’s making me grin so damn deviously. I’ll end now.