spaghetti-ish

i made spaghetti the other night for dinner. after a few bites, my daughter says, "mom, your spaghetti is spaghetti-ish."

 wondering what she meant by "spaghetti-ish", i asked her why she thought so.

"it has too much potato sauce," she replied matter of factly.

that just made a happy ending to my day. :)

speaking of spaghetti sauce, i came across a recipe that adds bacon, lots of chopped onions and bell pepper. bacon, for a smoky flavor. bell pepper, well i can't describe the flavor it adds but it sure does make the sauce taste different and good!

perspective

I wake up to this, thank the good Lord. In all the idle minutes of my life that I chose to just stare at this river flow lazily, I have never seen a floating trash bag or even a discarded soda can. It gets muddy and dotted with clumps of dry leaves after a heavy rain but it returns to its dark moss-green glory after a day. 

Along this river is a bicycle/ joggers path. I've seen men and women running along this path like it was the easiest thing in the world- to run like marathoners. On weekends, parents with their kids bike along. Ideal.

I wake up to this view, along with the traffic noise that starts at 6am. No horns, just cars flooring it, trying to beat the rush hour traffic. Forgot to mention that there's a highway also running along this river. Oh well. Must take the good with the bad (and a cup of coffee). :)

home

"what the heart cherishes, there its home will be."

smell the flowers

the past few days, i've just been lurking, observing, absorbing. a lot of things happening to family, friends, acquaintances. happy, sad, nasty, funny. a lot really goes on in our lives. some choose to share to others, most keep to themselves. 


one bit of news that has really gotten to me is that of a relative getting sick at such a young age. it put so much anxiety in me. she's been part of my morning prayers everyday.


these lines from the book i'm reading has somehow reminded me, to live, to embrace the present, to be thankful, to just be.


"...but such was the virtue of the land of Rivendell that soon all fear and anxiety was lifted from their minds. The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each good day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal,  and in every word and song." - J.R.R. Tolkien

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

this one's a keeper. easy yet with good results. here's the recipe from allrecipes.com.

in a saucepan large enough to accommodate your chicken pieces, put together the sugar, soysauce, vinegar (i used rice wine vinegar cuz that's what i had), garlic, ginger (i used fresh) and pepper. when the sugar's all dissolved, stir in the cornstarch dissolved in water and simmer til thick. 

i cooled it a little and put in the chicken pieces. you can leave the chicken in for about 2-5 minutes. my intention really was for the marinade to stick on the chicken so that when i grill it, i get some caramelization going. i don't have a picture of it but i grilled these chicken pieces to get that smoky flavor. just on a grill pan, stove top. the chicken doesn't have to be cooked, just to get some grill marks and caramelized sugar.

then i put them in a pan, poured in the remaining marinade and stuck 'em in the turbo broiler. 180 degrees, 15 mins each side. the reason i poured in the marinade is because i know that the broiler is famous for drying up food, and that i didn't want to be basting every so often. cover with foil if you think the pieces are drying up. the objective of this part is to make sure the chicken is cooked and to reduce the sauce a bit.

better with buttered corn, carrots and peas on the side. lurve it! :)

Blogs roll

I have just read the article by Margaux Salcedo about the Big Bad Blogger here as well as Marketman's take on it. I've always been careful about recommendations of bloggers for a certain product or service but i really didn't think that they would get to the point of organizing it and making it a business! 

Well, that explains a lot. Do they also clean up the web of negative comments? hmmm... 

More Bohol pics...

Broas

The adventurous, time-unconstrained tourist may want to see Bohol via local public transportation. 

This Philippine Flying Lemur was in a neighboring cage next to the tarsiers. Apparently, it can't fly and is not a lemur (says wikipedia) :).

Bohol Beach Club

Bee Farm's viewing deck.

Go on down and wade. I did :)

It really is so quiet here, this part of Bohol. I actually feel a tinge of sadness looking at this picture.

.