the proposal

we can be one of those weird couples that even the supposedly most romantic moments tend to happen in the most ridiculous timing.


ross proposed around 3am.  i think.  i couldn't really tell for sure because my mind was in a daze from having woken up to finish our laundry.  yes, we had to finish the laundry at 3am.  mind you, he volunteered to finish the laundry himself after i told him that i wanted to sleep already.  when i woke up, i saw him sleeping beside me, cuddled up in his bolster.

so i woke him up.  no, i'm not a cold-hearted girlfriend who would wake his boyfriend up just to hang washed clothes.  it's just that the bamboo poles to which we hang our clothes for drying are too heavy for me, especially at 3 in the morning.  so there.  anyway, i woke him up but went ahead outside.

after maybe 5 or 10 minutes, he went out and helped me with the laundry.  after finishing the laundry, he pushed me to go back inside our room.  and that's when i saw the drama.  music was playing from our tv along with a slideshow of our pictures.  and candles were everywhere in the room.  and flower petals were all over our made bed.  the first thought i had was, "too many candles, not safe.  fire."  yes, i'm weird like that.  i asked him what it was all about, but he only moved me to dance.  it was also our fourth anniversary so i thought it was because of that.  it wasn't the first time that ross had made such tremendous effort to celebrate our anniversary, so i didn't think of anything else.

he asked me to sit on the bed, and then he started making a speech.  i was starting to feel nervous then.  i had a gut feel that he was about to propose.  then, i couldn't remember if i blinked or i looked away for 0.5 seconds, but when i looked at him again, the ring was right in front of me.  and then he asked.  i couldn't answer right away.  of course, i wanted to say yes but i couldn't open my mouth.  that was the first time i literally had mixed emotions.  happy. scared. surprised. and maybe everything else in between.  i had so many thoughts in my head at that time.  i was even thinking of what the ring would look like.  and if i would like it.  and how would i tell him if i didn't.  the weirdo that i was even had the idea of not answering at all and just letting him speak.  but, the weirdo that i am spoke and said "seryoso ka?"

i don't know what happened afterwards.  i couldn't remember if i spoke or if he did.  all i remember was he asked me again and i nodded.


yes, we're (actually, more of i am) not the traditional romantics, and i could be the crappiest girlfriend-being-proposed-to.  but what the heck.  i would re-live that moment over and over.

piansei

 

please save us from bad people

bosing, please save us from bad people.  from people who want to hurt and take advantage of us.  i'm leaving everything up to you.  enlighten us, and teach us the right path.  guide us so we can make the right decisions.  i know you wouldn't hand us these problems if you don't believe that we can surpass them.  i know we can.  you know we can.  

our situation now is a bit too overwhelming for me.  but i don't want to lose faith.  i cannot.  you're the only one we can turn to, and i know you're the only one who can help us.  just please please guide us.  i know you won't forsake us.  i believe in you.  



amen.

Kimmi Junior Lily

Lily

i have a small kimmi junior lily figurine at my workstation.  ross gave it to me last christmas.  he said i look like her.  no, i'm not japanese.  maybe it's the shape of the eyes and the chubby cheeks.  :) 

i remember when i first saw these kimmi dolls and kimmi junior dolls, i couldn't take my eyes off them.  they're so cute.  precious thots were selling a gazillion merchandise items about them, which i couldn't buy.  and wouldn't buy.  because they were so expensive.  imagine a small keychain costs more than $10.  but what girl in her right mind can resist these?

Photo from http://www.preciousthots.com

sigh.  i would have wanted to collect them all, or maybe just all the lily stuff.  but i'm not sure if they're still making stuff for her.  oh well, i'm just glad i have one :)

singapore's garfield

this cat lives in queenstown.  ross and i called her (him?) garfield because she's so fat and lazy...like garfield.  and of course, because they have the same fur color.

queenstown's garfield

the cuteness that is danbo

danbo was playing in our room last night.

here she was hanging out by the tv...

then, she wanted to taste my tea...

 

then, she saw my angry birds...

and insisted on playing with them...

but i think the birds didn't want to play with her because it was sleeping time...

poor danbo.  she was so sad that she wanted to jump from the cabinet drawers...

okay, enough.  ang morbid na :)

pork nilaga

last night's dinner was pork nilaga.  it should have been sunday's dinner, but sunday was too exhausting.  imagine, we braved the pouring rain (there's no storm in singapore) to get to church.  and then we went to xin wang hong kong cafe in anchorpoint for lunch, and then to my favorite wasteland, ikea, to buy some stuff for our new place.  and then dropped off everything back to redhill.  and then headed to cineleisure to watch x-men: first class.  so, obviously, no cooking for me.

anyway, the pork nilaga turned out to be very very good.  i didn't even have to use patis anymore!

ingredients:

• spareribs and a few chunks of pork belly (depends on how much meat you want)
• 1/2 onion, sliced into small pieces (i used white onion)
• 7-8 pieces of string beans, cut into smaller pieces
• pechay, chop off the end part, but retain a few inches of the white stem part (i sliced my pechay because i don't know why the pechay leaves here in singapore are bigger than my palm)
• 5-6 pieces of potatoes, cut into halves
• salt
• lots and lots of peppercorn or crushed pepper
• knorr pork cube (optional)

before doing anything else, boil the spareribs and pork belly for maybe about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  season it with salt and peppercorn.

while the pork is boiling, prepare the veggies.

when you think the pork is tender enough, add the potatoes.  let it boil until the potatoes are softer too.

when the potatoes are somewhat mash-able already, add the knorr pork cube.  then the string beans.

then when the meat is really tender, and the potatoes can be easily poked with a fork, add the pechay.  then, simmer for a minute or two.  done!

i should really get a camera!

ginataang kalabasa with chicken breast

i only learned how to cook when i started working here in singapore.  at first, i used to email mama for recipes.  and then, i started to hunt around for food blogs with easy-to-make recipes.  good thing my teammate, din, also likes cooking.  we share recipes and kitchen finds and stuff like that.

anyway, ever since we had that incident with the owners in queenstown, i lost interest in cooking (that being their main complaint).  so, i promised myself that i would cook again once we've moved to a new place.  and that's exactly what i did.  early saturday morning, ross and i went to the market ang bought food that, hopefully, would last us for two weeks. 

i cooked ginataang kalabasa with chicken breast first.  it's the easiest and fastest dish to prepare.  (ang olats ko, wala man lang pictures.)  i figured i'll post the recipes here so i would have a copy as well.  i tend to forget stuff :)

ingredients:

• 1/2 kalabasa, peeled, cut in chunks (big chunks are great because they tend to get squished) - better if you get a malagkit kalabasa.  they are more flavorful.
• 1 chicken breast fillet, sliced into strips or cubes or chunks whatever you like
• 7-8 pieces of string beans, cut into small pieces
• 1 pack of coconut powder (because i don't know how to do real gata) - dilute the coconut powder in 1 mug/cup of water.  depends on how thick or thin you want it to be.
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion (1/4 is fine if it's a big onion.  for me, it doesn't matter if the onion is red or white, they both make me cry)
• olive oil
• herbs (i use mixed dried herbs, the one that comes in small bottles)
• knorr chicken or pork cube
• salt
• black pepper, ground or crushed
• ground cinnamon - optional (i feel it enhances the kalabasa's taste, and yeah, pangpa-arte lang :))

marinate the chicken breast in olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs.  a few minutes is fine, just enough to add flavor.

add the chicken breast with olive oil mixture.  add more olive oil if the oil is not enough to cook the chicken.

cook the chicken until its water inside drains out or when you start seeing threads of white chicken meat.
add the onions.  saute for about two minutes or until the onions are translucent.

add the garlic. saute.

when the garlic is cooked (not burnt), add the diluted coconut powder.  let it simmer.

when the liquid starts to boil, add the kalabasa.  let it simmer again.

check on it every now and then, make sure there's enough water.  add half a mug/cup of water if necessary. you'll notice the kalabasa will become soft and squishy.  and the liquid will become orange-y in color.

add pepper, knorr cube, herbs (if you want) and cinammon powder.

when the kalabasa cubes are super soft and squishy (not dissolved; you should still be able to see big chunks), add the string beans.

simmer again for a few seconds (string beans are not supposed to be over-cooked). done!

i have a love-hate relationship with blogger.

when i started blogging in 2000 (or was it 2001?), i loved it.  imagine, your so-called diary is online.  i got to "meet" people i shared common things with.  and i learned a lot too.  not just plain-life stuff, but techie stuff.  i started tinkering with html codes and realized that it was fun.  i actually even tried creating my blog design from scratch.

but after a few months...i think that was when i started working already, i grew tired of blogging.  maybe it was because i was too tired already.  or maybe it was because i talked to customers over the phone for 8 hours (sometimes more) that i couldn't construct a sentence in my head that i could put into writing.  i thought when i switched jobs and moved on to my real field, which is writing, i would be able to blog again.  and i did.  but after a few nonsense posts, i stopped blogging again.  at that time, i felt like i needed to be a better writer as i was working as a writer then too.  but a korean-setting of an office with control freak supervisors were too much for me.  during that time, i realized i was a crappy, and i say crappy, writer.  that and office-delicate situations made me decide to abandon blogging and delete my blog altogether.

after four years, i found another job, which i thought was promising but turned out to be a hellhole.  i spent the longest seven months of my life there.  boring was an understatement.  there were several weeks when all i would do was surf carelessly all day.  good thing, freelance editing jobs were abundant then.  at least something kept me really busy while pretending to be busy.  oh, and i also started blogging again.  a few posts here and there just to pass the time.  or when i just wanted to rant something.  and then, ross and i moved here...in singapore.

we spent several months job hunting, so definitely no blogging at that time.  then, i found a job through din.  at first, i was trying to be busy...you know, try to keep up with my new job, learn how things are done, etc.  but when i got the hang of it, i started to miss something.  since there were times when there was no work to be done, i started reading blogs again.  then i started to read them regularly.  then, i started to miss blogging.  so, here i am.

surprisingly, it still feels good.  to just write away and post whatever i want.  post the thing i don't want to forget or things that i truly want to forget but want to lash out for the meantime.  it doesn't matter if there are people reading this, or if there's none.  but writing...blogging...makes me feel like as if somebody is listening to my nonsense talk.  so, yeah, i'm happy. :)