Happy Easter!

So this year's Easter Lunch went well. Though it would have been nicer if my younger bro from Ottawa came down for a visit.
Anyways, Yummy food !
I really should learn how to cook - cook well.
I know my basic stuff... but I really should learn how to cook the food of my culture. Philipino food.
I can make lumpia. Thats pretty easy and you can basically make up what you want inside it anyways.
But I tried the staple - 2 times.... Adobo. 2 times a fail. Everyone says its easy but ... apparently thats not in my vocab.
So my Aunt made some Polabok. That is her staple.... Auntie's Polabok... though it was a bit different this year with pancit noodles.... not so sure I like it that way... but still tasty.
Mom made the turkey this year - usually its my sister in laws specialty. I made it a couple times before too but I dont think it was as good as my sister in laws .... and man I find it stressful - 5 hours of worrying if its going to suck up the last bit of saliva coating the guests' taste buds if it is too dry or if it will make them vomit till they keel over if it is undercooked. (Yea Im so dramatic about turkey).
This year I just made some grilled veggies (my new thing since the pasta night a week ago) - btw grilled zucchini is the best side for a tomato pasta dish! yummy!
And I made my throw-togther-messy-looking-but - good - tasting Truffle.

Enjoy!

Fruit Truffle:

• Vanilla Pound Cake
• Strawberries and Blueberries (or any other combo of fresh fruit you like)
• Lemon Juice and Orange Juice (you can add a bit of liquor if you like)
• Whipped cream
• French Vanilla Pudding
• White chocolate - chopped up or in flakes
• Thin cut Almond slivers

Layer it all a few times in a lovely bowl and ta da! too easy.

C'est Wa?

You ever listen to the french translation of things and find that it is either longer or more expressive than what you heard in English?
You know, like those airline stewards who give you the safety regulations .... like they give those Frenchies the inside scoop on whats really happening and how to really save themselves! (and let the English fend for ourselves!)

I took my parents out to an Asian/ Chinese buffet lunch yesterday. It was a new place with alot of selection. The theme of the decor was an old pirate ship. Kinda dark.
Anyhoots... At the end of the meal my parents did not want the fortune cookies so I took all 3. And the oink that I am, I ate two of them and opened the 3rd just to read the fortune. 2 of the 3 where the exact same fortune in English....But what I found interesting is that the French part was totally different for both...
I thought arent those things just to translate the English to French ? I mean, it is both on ONE fortune from ONE cookie.... not give the French their own different fortune altogether!!!(really, if you are bilingual then you get two fortunes for one cookie - more benefits to those bilinguals! .... or so it seems)

I put them in my pocket and forgot about them... until I was doing online banking just now and one of them fell out with my wallet.... somehow I lost the other that had the same English fortune.
I decided to punch in the French terms into an English translation thingy online....

So this was all on one fortune slip:
English fortune : "you will always have good luck in your personal affairs"
French fortune : "A femme hargneuse, mari brutal" ...To woman hargneuse, brutal husband..... WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! I know those online translation things dont get it right exactly but really??? That sounds crappy! Kinda makes me want to look up the other fortune that had the same english but different french wording... or maybe its good I lost it.... the french probably translates to more wishes of damnation! Effin scary man. Effin scary.

Salmon: Part I

 (not exactly the pic of tonight's dish- too bad I didnt take an actual pic of it)

So on the topic of food....
My mom makes the best fish dishes (especially salmon) EVER!
No fancy shpansy resto can compare! (not that I ever really ate at the fanciest shpanciest - but whatever).
I always find the salmon dishes I have elsewhere quite bland and dry no matter how it is cooked or garnished.

This was tonight's dish:

• Teryiaki sauce BBQ
• Thinly sliced ginger
• A dash of mayo
• Freshly squeezed lemon
• some soya sauce
• (she said salt and pepper to taste)
• Broil in oven for about 12 -15 min depending on size of salmon. No cover.

Voila!



(now mind you I must attempt this myself some day!)

Dreaming of Italy

I want to go back. Its been about 15 yrs since I visited Rome. The time I went I really wasnt expecting much, cause I was there for a student conference.
I remember sitting in the dining hall of the convent (ya, thats where they housed us) for a scheduled dinner with the rest of the visiting student groups. They served some kind of pasta with tomato sauce. I thought, no big deal.
But that one bite just transformed me forever! I love their pasta. Nothing like I have tasted anywhere here in north america. From then on, I was on a quest. To find the same kind of tasty pasta here.... or .... go back. In conclusion, I realize I must go back!

Anyhow, you can imagine my excitement when I was invited for a casual dinner at a friend-of-a-friend's house yesterday. Her friend was over from Italy and was making pasta from scratch!!!!
(Sorry to say I even resorted to trying to make my own home made pasta to replicate the taste a while back - big fail and a waste of 3 hours of my life)
So it was a fun night with a few of us helping to shape the little pasta pieces. Of course the flour we used was just usual north american flour, which her Italian guest found to be harder to mould and roll. She said Italy actually has a grainier and yellow-er type of flour and they also use 2 kinds to make the pasta. Its alot of work!
Thus, to say it still did not quite taste like Italian pasta I had 15 yrs ago - but it was the closest ever to it! I wish I could have took some home (didnt want to look like big Oink though). It was one of those times where your taste buds keep saying yes yet your full stomach has to say no.
Totally forgot the name of the pasta but it looks like the one in the middle bottom of this pic:
Delicioso!

Politically Correct.

Strange term. Isnt it politically INcorrect to talk about religion and politics in small conversation?
Anyhow, I have never really been interested in politics. But after the political debate last night - I"m sooo excited to VOTE! Bring it on!

well alot has happened since I last wrote. private stuff really. nothing that should  be written much of here. its hard to know what to say or how to help someone you care about when they go through a tramatic difficult time in their life.
"when someone passes we weep... not for the one who has passed, but more for ourselves, because we are the ones left behind"

Did I say "Die" ? I meant curl up into a ball and hide forever!!!

When anyone has ever asked me "what is your most embarrassing moment"? I never really had a good answer for them......
Until this weekend.
Has anyone ever really died of embarrassment???!! I want to know! Tell me if you have!! Well, maybe you cant if you actually died. But really? How do you get past this?
I guess this is what happens in life so that we are kept in check - you know, humbled. Prevented from thinking we are all that and a bag of cookies.
I guess also, when this happens in front of someone you think is a friend or a potential or more or even a stranger... it tests them too and your relationship with them.


anyhow.... blah blah blah...... Hiding is my best option right now :(

(thing is, when a turtle hides in its shell, we can still see it - ugh)