Let's all welcome a new start!

HaPpY nEw YeAr to all!

May this new year give us all a new start.
May we have more blessings to receive and more blessings to share.
May we have good health always.
Cheers to 2008!

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The Christmas that was...

Ours was just a simple one. With the 25th treated as a typical day here in Taiwan, we opted to have early Christmas celebration during the weekend. Since Sunday was planned to be celebrated with Ate Rosie and friends, we invited our colleagues and friends to our humble home on Saturday and the theme was seafoods for dinner. Earlier on Saturday, I went out with 'te Rosie and hubby to the seafood market in Taoyuan leaving hubby and Jade home so the little girl can take her nap.I set dinner to start at 7pm so when we reached home by 3pm, I started to work on the kitchen few minutes after we arrived from the market.Dishes prepared includes adobong pusit, buttered shrimps,clams, crab feet (cracked before cooking), seaweed salad and stir-fried pork.While I was cooking, Dennis and Jade went to KFC to buy 2 buckets of chicken.

As the guests started to arrive, fish and squid balls with spiced vinegar for dipping were served with the help of a friend.Our friends enjoyed the meal except for the crab feet which entailed one to eat barehanded to savour it. The guys were teasing one of them when he started to "agkammet" (used barehand to eat) because his index finger was "nakapilantik" (lifted and directed upwards) but he didn't mind and continued to savor his plate with matching slurping sounds. The meal was followed by some rice cake sweets from the night market and more of the fish and squid balls. The dinner ended with the group watching the "Pirates of the Carribean" (don't know if it was part 1 or 2) where most of them sat on the floor because of the limited space.

The next day, we went to Juvel's place for late lunch while the rest of the day was spent at Ate Rosie's place where we had our dinner. They prepared the usual macaroni salad and spaghetti that's why I didn't cook these two anymore. I brought down the leftovers plus my simple "pinakbet" from Saturday which our "manangs" consumed with delight. Watching ate prepare one of the dishes taught me another new delicacy for me to try in the future.

On the 24th, we fetched Jade after work to attend the early Christmas eve mass which started at 7pm. After the mass, we headed home right away and dropped by ate's place to get some food servings for our noche buena, if we can call it that. After our meal, we unwrapped the rest of Jade's gifts as some were already unwrapped earlier during the Christmas party we attended a week earlier. She was all smiles when she saw Barbie though she was actually the one who chose it when mom and dad were doing the shopping. We watched DVD (Biohazard 1, Resident Evil) after that and to our delight, Jade didn't make any attempt of pulling us back to the bedroom so we were able to finish the movie.

On the 25th, we were at work as usual but after office, we went to KFC and had Jade enjoy the playpen slide her own.

We called our families already during the weekend as we expected that it would be difficult to get into the line on the 24th and 25th. It would have been a different Christmas if we were home celebrating with the bigger family yet we had to make do with what we have and where we are. Eventually, Christmas celebration 2007 was fine.

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Family hiking in Yangmingshan Nature Trail (1st weekend of December)

Winter ambience in Taiwan was felt last month but with the weird weather, it somehow started to get warm again from time to time. We thought the chill felt earlier is the official start of a cold winter but it seems to be only a hint that it should be winter now. We're lucky that most weekends end up with a good weather much as the week starts with rain and some chills. I'd say that kind of weather without rain and scorching heat makes it a good time to go out with the family. We should take advantage of the neutral climate if I may call it that. But I guess it's more of an unpredictable weather.

Anyway, starting November, our weekends were always busy. We also made plans on how to spend December weekends. Part of the list is to visit the nearest hotspring located in Beitou which is very accessible through MRT. That plan was marked on the 1st weekend of December. One of our friends heard about this plan and she suggested that we go to Yangmingshan hotspring instead because the water up there in the mountains is better than that in Beitou. Since Yangmingshan is farther than Beitou, we thought of booking an indoor hotspring for overnight then. Another friend learned about our weekend plan as well and offerred to help us look for an affordable hotel in the mountains and have one room booked for us on any available weekend. That spared us from searching for a place to stay. She then got us booked for the 2nd weekend of December so we had to change plan for the earlier weekend. Getting tired of the city area, we opted to still visit the Beitou hotsprings just to get a picture of the place so off we went. We took the MRT from Tamsui to Beitou and transferred to another train to get us to Xinbeitou which is around 5 minutes away.

Since it was almost lunch time, we stopped in one of the stores to buy some food and headed to the path shown on the landmark. As we were about to head towards the park, I saw a bus stopped and asked hubby if he wanted to just go to the mountains instead and he immediately said "let's go!" We boarded on the bus right away. That was indeed a sudden change of plan! Without any idea of where to stop, we just decided to follow suit wherever the other foreigners in the bus get down.

We were getting farther but none of the foreign looking passengers left their seats. Then in one of the bus stops where most local people unboard, the driver exclaimed something we didn’t understand and for no reason at all, we decided to get off. Jade was already sleeping at that time so at least, the pressure to look around at where we ended was lesser. The first thing we searched for was some place to eat lunch. We saw what appeared to be a restaurant to us but to our dismay, the place was not really tidy and no one was there except us so we left the place. We followed the road and found some roadside stalls selling sausages but it was not at all what we wanted. It appeared that the big building near the park is home for the aged. We really didn't feel comfortable so we just kept on following the road. I was like wanting to argue with hubby (I think I actually did) for the decision we made but realizing nothing better can be done, we kept on walking. We met two bikers then one hiker. We saw a trail on the roadside and just took it. Then we started to appreciate what we see so we kept walking. We met several people, locals and foreigners alike and somehow, it made us feel comfortable knowing that we followed a regular trail. We passed through a river and ended up in a crossroad. We decided to take the path going right but it got us back to the road. We went back and seeing people coming from the left path, we thought the way will bring us somewhere else. We stopped for a while to look around us and at that time, Jade got up from her sleep. She may have been surprised to the unfamiliar surrounding but started to love it when we showed her the river. We took pictures and headed uphill.

We saw more people passing us by when we decided to take a rest and give Jade her noon snack (we didn't bring her regular lunch because we thought we'd find a restaurant somewhere around the place anyway). Some passersby would stare at us and mumble some words we don't understand. I think they're talking about seeing a toddler with the parents feeding her while they stop for a break - meaning us. On where we stopped was a post showing trails. We had to use our instincts as to where to go first. We figured that people coming from our right side carry food or drinks with them so we thought there would be stalls up there and right, following the path they came from led us to a major road and a busy small town actually. We saw a Catholic church as well. We were glad to see decent places to eat where we ended up eating in a restaurant that serves pasta and sandwiches. We rested for a while and enjoyed the mountain view from where we sat. As we were on the road already, I suggested to hubby that we find the bus stop and just ride back to wherever it will lead us.

He agreed but not being able to locate any visible bus stop and hesitating to ask any body we meet made us think twice as to go back to the trail or follow the road. Hubby said he still wanted to hike and enjoy the view to which I complied. We followed a trail and ended up in a very steep stairway. Oh I'm glad we're headed downhill but meeting some older hikers carrying some hiking rod or stick amazed me and reminded me of folks back home. Of course, Jade was carried all the way down. I pleaded that she sticks with her dad as much as she insisted to be carried by mommy. To stop her whining, Dennis had to run down the stairs from time to time and that made her giggling with delight. Down the way, we ended up in a flat trail and to our gladness; there was a resting area with available seats. A post there showed that wild monkeys still exist in that area and ways how to get rid of them were listed. After few minutes of rest, we continued to walk, walk and walk. Jade walked from time to time but wary of the stony path, she'd squall to be picked up. At this part of the trail, we met family with kids but not any younger than ours.

We stopped in yet another rest area that showed another post as to where the trails are leading to. We decided to take the Tianmu trail knowing where Tianmu is but not really having any idea as to what part of the town will we end up at. Not a bad decision because along the way, we saw the view of Taipei City with Taipei 101 outstanding all the buildings. To my regret thought, the sky was cloudy and I wasn't able to take a decent shot of the view. Anyhow, at least now I know where all those pictures in the internet showing Taipei City and Taipei 101 view were shot from - somewhere where we were. Again, I was glad we started from the top of the trail as it was easier to walk downhill but not until I felt pain in my toes and ankle. I was more than glad when we eventually reached the starting point of the trail - Tianmu.

We followed the road to find bus stops though we noticed that we seemed to have ended in a ghost town because we couldn't even see any single person. I bet with Dennis that we'll meet a Filipino somewhere along the way - just according to my instinct. Glad to see the main road with buses passing by, we stopped in one of the buildings entrance and let Jade take her milk. While on our rest, a lady with a big dog passed by. Dennis exclaimed something about the dog in English and the lady responded in English too so we thought she was a local. But when I spoke to Dennis in Tagalog, the lady started to talk to us in the same language. I won the bet! She worked for a foreign household - that explains why she was also talking to the dog in English, not Chinese. Thanks to her, we found out that we are in a familiar place, we're near the Catholic church in Tianmu, a place we already visited before so we already knew how to find our way back home.

Whew, we were down in town at four in the afternoon. We hiked for at least 2 hours with stopovers. On the bus, my legs started to shake. As we approached the MRT station, Jade dozed off. On the train, all three of us slept. And when we reached home, pain started to be felt from my legs up to my waist and shoulder. My, that was a great adventure but it was a wrong move not to have any stretches or light exercise before taking the nature trails. I wouldn't make the same mistake next time. Dennis was bugging me that we do visit the place again some other time and instead of starting from top, we'd head uphill. I told him back I'll not do it anymore. It would be fun though but we have to make sure we're physically ready for it and he has to make sure, Jade will be willing to be carried by daddy all the way up else, we'll wait for him on top by riding the bus.

More pictures we took on the way can be found in my multiply albums HERE and HERE.

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Merry Christmas

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas!
May the spirit of the season fill your homes.
And may the coming new year bring us all good luck.

Have a merry christmas and a blessed new year!

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Images of Christmas in our home

The small golden wreath (still on a box) hanging on our aircon

The Christmas bells hanging on the wall (got two of them)

The red Christmas tree figured decoration hanging on the wall

(flanked by two christmas bells)

The star on top of our Christmas tree

Our Christmas Tree standing on the one corner of our living room

(Flanked by sofas because of limited space)

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Photo Meme - My Sundown!

Sunset
B J Ayers

Out over the ocean, and it’s waves it lay,
A magnificent orange sphere, as it drops to the sea,
With spears descending from within the fire,
The magnificent beauty of the sunset each day,

An immanent display, for the world to share,
As it seeps below horizons, to end the day,
Only to share light, so that others may see,
The beauty of the sunset for all who care,

Up above the clouds, that shadow the light,
The rain, the snow, and the elements that blind,
That magnificent glow, that Brightens our world,
Another sunset awaits, just to share its light.

I am posting another meme from Lovelyn in her Show me your sunset or sunrise photo tag.

I would have loved to work on both sunset and sunrise but I realized that there's no sunrise photo in my collection as of yet and starting one would entail leaving bed at the crack of dawn. In my mind though, the sunrise view on our way to Sagada in 2005 still remains very vivid. If only I can paint! Unfortunately, we didn't take any picture thinking we can do it on our way back, bad decision.

Anyway, getting back to the meme, the rules are as simple as posting photos you've taken, telling where and when the photos were taken and describing your feelings while watching/shooting the view.

The 1st and 2nd photos were taken in Tamsui Riverpark, a place we frequently hang around during weekends, last Sunday. Jade was on her afternoon nap so I left her and hubby in the coffeeshop. We intentionally waited for the sunset. Watching it gave me a soothing and serene feeling like any sunset views have always affected me.

The 3rd photo was taken in Sanzhi beachside on April 2006. Our company had several days break for the summer outing. Since we weren't comfortable to bring Jade along on long local trips, we came out with our own tour plan. This photo including details of how I felt at that time can be found in my post Reflection.

As for the last photo, sorry but I couldn't find one plain sunset photo, either me or hubby is in the pictures. Having him on this photo is one evidence that I shot it :) This was taken in the famous Boracay beach on April 2005 - twas our honeymoon trip. I was amazed at the sight of sunset here. Watching it with the splashes of water on the background gave a natural high! Yes, sunset has always given me a feeling of natural high!

Now since this is a meme, I have to pass it to other blogger friends out there who I hope can find some time to work on it. Jhune, Hannah, Sha, Ruel and Mari, please take it from here that you've been officially tagged.

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Born on the month of JULY...

It almost sounded like "Born on the 4th of July". This is not a movie title though, it's in response to a meme passed to me by Mari of Life together starts and Bill of From the BoondocKs.

The meme's rules are very simple. Here's what to do:
1. Mention the person who tagged you and create a link back to them.
2. Copy-paste the traits for all the twelve months.
3. Pick your month of birth.
4. Highlight the traits that apply to you.
5. Tag 12 people and let them know by visiting their blogs and leaving a comment for them.
6. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve done it!


JULY: Fun to be with. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Takes pride in oneself (of course!). Has reputation (I'd say I somehow have a good reputation, errr...). Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people’s feelings. Tactful. Friendly (I do consider myself friendly huh!). Approachable. Emotional temperamental and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. (these two are really true for me, Cancerian I am!) Witty and sparkly. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. Treats others equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. Loves to be alone. Always broods about the past and the old friends. Likes to be quiet. Homely person. Waits for friends (this is really true, no matter how late my friends are on dates, I wait for them patiently). Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Prone to having stomach and dieting problems. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt but takes long to recover.

Now, I am passing this on to Hannah, Noeds, Sha, Ruel, Jhune, Jols, Blen, Maxi, Vida and Kem.

***

And here's the rest of the birth month list of traits...

JANUARY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people’s flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very stubborn and money cautious.

FEBRUARY: Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexy. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizes dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.

MARCH: Attractive personality. Sexy. Affectionate. Shy and reserved. Secretive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve others. Easily angered. Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves traveling. Loves attention. Hasty decisions in choosing partners. Loves home decors. Musically talented. Loves special things. Moody.

APRIL: Active and dynamic. Decisive and hasty but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people’s problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving. Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest. Sexy in a way that only their lover can see.

MAY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves traveling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

JUNE: Thinks far with vision. Easily influenced by kindness. Polite and soft-spoken. Having ideas. Sensitive. Active mind. Hesitating, tends to delay. Choosy and always wants the best. Temperamental. Funny and humorous. Loves to joke. Good debating skills. Talkative. Daydreamer. Friendly. Knows how to make friends. Able to show character. Easily hurt. Prone to getting colds. Loves to dress up. Easily bored. Fussy. Seldom shows emotions. Takes time to recover when hurt. Brand conscious. Executive. Stubborn.

AUGUST: Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride in oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts , music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

AUGUST: Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride in oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

SEPTEMBER: Suave and compromising. Careful, cautious and organized. Likes to point out people’s mistakes. Likes to criticize. Stubborn. Quiet but able to talk well. Calm and cool. Kind and sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal but not always honest. Does work well. Very confident. Sensitive. Good memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look for information. Must control oneself when criticizing. Able to motivate oneself. Understanding. Fun to be around. Secretive. Loves leisure and traveling. Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Very choosy, especially in relationships. Systematic.

OCTOBER: Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn’t pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

NOVEMBER: Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

DECEMBER: Loyal and generous. Sexy. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations. Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egotistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

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Soupcon...

I am back online. I've been browsing here and there for quick check of latest posts but didn't really get the chance to leave marks on anyone's site as I didn't have the luxury of time. First week of December was quite hectic (huh???) - Somehow work demands were high at that time but on that weekend, we got the chance to take a nature trip in the mountains of Yangming on the first Saturday of the month. The family adventure story will follow soon. We were also able to set up our own Christmas tree (hurray!). However, 2nd Saturday was not a good one (sigh!). We brought Jade to the hospital and stayed there until Tuesday because of AGE (acute gastroenteritis) - details to follow soon too. She had her follow-up checkup this morning and we're glad she's better now and she can get back to her regular diet - that includes full milk strength. Tomorrow, we're set to attend a friend's party in Taipei City so we'll get the chance to go around Taipei 101 once again and see the huge Christmas tree installed somewhere around the Warner Village area before the party.

I have yet to do some quick Christmas shopping for the kids - Jade's friends and our friends' kids. No shopping plan for adults huh ??? I have yet to work on two memes (one from Lovelyn and same meme from Bill and Mari) and blog posts. Also, I saw Lovelyn published her 1st PPP article already, I have yet to work on mine otherwise all opportunities will be lost. Oh well, hang on for my stories everyone. Just wanted to let you know I'm still around.
---
Postscript:
I'll list my comments to blog friends here:
Lovelyn, belated happy birthday to Dylan! What a nice party! I wish him good health and more blessings.
Bill/Mari, thanks for the tag. I'll work on that one of these days.
Joseans 92 online - thanks for the visit. I'll "chat" with you guys in multiply some time. Got a lot of catching up to do! See you around.
Mareng Jols - good to see Andi enjoying the colorful cupcake toppings. Wish we can bring Jade there.
To all - thanks for dropping by! Come again!

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Eyes on Barney

Seldom does Jade pay attention to TV shows. She’d ask for the television to be turned on, watches local cartoons or DVDs for few minutes and turn away from it to get back to play. But not until she came to love the Barney series we got on a CD bought back home. She can stand to watch one whole 30-minutes series without any interruption. She’d join the kids singing and dancing. She loved the “bunny hop hop hop” thing from the “animal friends’ series”. She’d even run towards the TV screen in an attempt to join the kids hugging Barney. One of the things she learned from it that we love is to kiss and hug mom and dad when she hears the “I love you” song.


One time, in a scene where the camera focus was shifted from Barney to the kids, somewhat getting him out from the picture, Jade cried out to look for him and even searched the side of the screen in an attempt to find Barney there. Dennis was the one who noticed it. Then when Barney showed back; she smiled and cheered. At times when our phone rings that required us to tone down the volume or to interrupt the show to hear the other line, she would protest with a cry. She’s learning words, actions and good stuffs from the Barney shows so we’re not stopping her to watch unless it gets to disrupt her eating habits.

Jade would sit watching for a while but when the singing and dancing start,

she'd leave her seat and join the fun

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What comes after deviating from the original recipe?

One of the advantages of keeping an e-group is that members get to exchanged ideas about any subject raised that interests anyone from the group. The subject could include family life, work, sentiments, rants, jokes, movies, men, women, travel experiences, kids and of course, recipes. The last subject gives me the highest interest especially if it is something that I can cook out from my kitchen. In one of my e-groups discussions, we talked about pasta recipes and some of the members mentioned about Fetuccini Alfredo. Since the dish name sounded complicated to me, I didn’t put much attention to it until after my last week’s search for an easy to prepare dish for dinner. With combinations of tiredness from my own dishes, riddance of take aways, excitement over a new recipe and short requirement for dish preparation, I googled what came out to be a delectable serving.

Google search took me to http://www.allrecipes.com/ where I looked for various recipes and ended up choosing from 2 pasta dishes. With quick preparation in mind, I opted for the “Broccoli Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo”. Original recipe is shown below but with limitations of supplies in the grocery store, I did my usual variation style which turned out to be "Broccoli Ham Spiral Alfredo" (My modifications are shown in italics).

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound dry fettuccine pasta (500gms spiral pasta)
1 cup fresh chopped broccoli
2 tablespoons butter
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast (4 regular ham slices)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup [2 regular cans cream of mushroom soup (Campbells)]
1/2 cup milk 375ml fresh milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a large pot of salted water (and cooking oil) to a boil. Add fettuccini (spiral) pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente, adding broccoli for the last 4 minutes of cooking. Drain.

2. Cut chicken breast meat (ham slices) into bite size pieces, trimming any fat off in the process. In a large skillet melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Add chicken (ham) and saute until well browned. Add soup, milk and cheese and stir all together. Add pasta/broccoli mixture and heat through. (I didn’t heat through the mixture anymore, I just mixed the sauce in the separate pan) Serve hot.

The ham being sauted

Cream of mushroom added

Fresh milk added and started to boil


Sauce, pasta and broccoli all added and ready to eat

Preparation time: 5minutes, cooking time: 15 minutes and there the dish is actually ready in just 20 minutes.

Over the weekend, I got curious as to how the dish got its name. Instead of getting the information I wanted, I ended up reading more and more variations of this famous dish. Only today did I eventually have the chance to know this famous pasta’s origin and true to my hunch, it got its name from the cook who invented it. And guess what led the cook to this dish? To please his pregnat wife! What a romantic act.

Source: Wikipedia
Fettuccine alfredo is a pasta dish made from fettuccine pasta tossed with Parmesan cheese, butter, and heavy cream. As the cheese melts, it thickens the liquids to form a smooth and rich coating on the pasta.

When butter was added both before and after fettuccine was put in the serving bowl, the butter was known as doppio burro (double butter). Di Lelio's original contribution was to double the amount of butter in the bowl before the fettuccine would be poured in, thus a triplo burro (triple butter) effect instead of double. And why did Alfredo double the amount of butter? His young wife was pregnant and was unable to keep any food down. Alfredo tried every dish he could imagine, but his variation on the fettuccine worked. When his wife began eating again, Alfredo added the new dish to his restaurants menu, but it was not perceived as being anything special until a couple of Hollywood movie stars stumbled across it a decade later.

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Birds power

Without much to blog about lately, I turned to searching for cute, funny and animated videos. High rating subjects constantly catch my attention. I find it amazing how people generate such form of entertainments. The embedded video is one of my favorites. I'd say a group shouldn't underestimate the power of an individual.


Video source title: For the birds



After watching this video, I made an assumption that one question that could possibly arise is "why don't birds get electrocuted when they sit on power lines?" Thus, I made an extra effort to refresh my memory and look for a supporting visual.

Illustration: Debrah Solomon

The answer to that question is simply said to be because they are not grounded thus not completing an electric circuit. Unless the birds touch another wire or grounded object, they are safe.

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Image upload issue in blogger - still an open bug!

I published my post “Basil and seafoods” on Sunday night and all images showed up well until the next day. However when I checked on the new comments come Tuesday, I noticed that only the “boxes with small x marks” were visible. I double checked it by clicking the refresh button several times but to my dismay, I didn’t see the pictures of basil and seafoods. As it was my third time to publish/re-publish that post, I no longer attempted to re-upload the images. I checked on the html codes and didn’t see anything unusual so what I did was to copy and paste the picture’s code in a new post to see if they appear but I didn’t succeed.

I searched blogger’s help sites but couldn’t find any related topics so I decided to report this issue to the related contacts by filling up the form. If anyone of you encountered this, please let me know if you have a fix.

On the other hand, I browsed the forum in google that discussed the image issues in blogger and bumped into this.


We are aware and currently working to fix the image uploading issue. This issue predominately causes the following error codes:
bX-6tnmaz
bX-ltlqzv

For updates and discussion of this issue, please visit this Hot Topic thread in the Blogger Help Group. — LATEST UPDATE ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007
LABELS: images, outstanding

It reminded me of the same messages I seldom encountered when uploading images in my posts. I didn’t pay much attention on it then because re-uploading the images shortly after getting the error message worked for me. But the thing that struck me is that this issue has been detected and raised to blogger admin more than a month ago and a blogger employee said on October that a fix is imminent but I figured that issue still exists until now. There are users complaining but a fix doesn’t seem to be found yet.

Added to that, I still didn’t get any feedback on the complaint/concern I raised. I hope blogger admin can work on these problems as soon as possible.

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Basil and seafoods (updated)

I really love cooking and I’d say my median skills are results of observation, practice, experimentation and exploration. Recently, I discovered how the herb basil contributes to the aroma and savour of seafoods. Perfect is how my husband describes it.

I used to know and use only the dried basil leaves which are also part of the bottle of “Italian spices” I use mostly for pasta preparation. Then I figured that the taste I didn’t like much from fried chicken and squid tentacles sold in the night markets is actually fresh basil leaves added just few seconds before the goods are lifted up from the boiling oil for dripping. It is also the same herb usually added in the viands served in my workplace’s canteen.

One time, we had dinner in our friend’s place and she served us clams filled with herbs. From the smell of it, I told her that was the scent I avoid in foods but she told me it goes well with the clams. I really didn’t have to eat the leaves because the main purpose of having it added in the viand is just to make it smell even better - in other words, the basil leaves were the dish's seasoning. Setting aside the herbs, I spooned only the sauce and the clams and to my surprise, it tasted oh so good.

From there, I searched from the internet facts about basil leaves and realized that pesto is actually made from it, with the addition of pine nuts and olive oil. That made me even more excited leading me to looking for articles on how to make pesto. I found several writings about it which basically say the same thing but presented in different ways. Anyhow, I planned to make pesto by myself but didn’t have the food processor and realized our blender is too small to make a desirable amount. So until now, I still didn’t give it a try.

On the other hand, when I had the chance to prepare various seafood recipes after that “fishing” experience in Taoyuan, I bought a bag of fresh basil leaves and had them as one of the main ingredients in my cooking.

The first dish I cooked was a replica of the clams my friend prepared. The recipe is very simple – all I needed were chopped onions, pressed garlic cloves, small amount of oil, oyster sauce, clams and half-bag of the basil leaves. I sauted the first 2 ingredients, added the clams and oyster sauce and let it boil. Since the clams were soaked in water, there’s no need to add water. I covered the pan and let it boil for few minutes with the clam shells popping out here and there. When the sound lessened, I opened the pan and noting that most of the shells are opened, I added the basil leaves and covered the pan again and left it boiling for another few minutes. My allotted time is not really measured as I am used to estimations.

The second dish I cooked with basil leaves consisted of the crab legs as the main ingredient along with the same items listed earlier but this time, I also had an egg and flour in my preparation table. For ease of eating, I asked hubby to crash the shells with the “pounding” metal before cooking. That time, what I had in mind is the dish that we usually order in a seafood restaurant we visit on an occasional basis. It’s actually quite expensive so I thought of imitating it. I guess I was lucky to get it right on my first try. The crab legs were boiled separately first, a dash of salt to taste is added. After boiling, I set separated the crab legs from the broth and set aside the latter. I took another pan and sauted the onions and garlic on a small amount of oil (mine was olivenol oil) then added the crab meat. After several toss and turns, I added the oyster sauce and the broth and left it to boil while I beat the egg and mixed the flour with a small amount of water. I actually used flour because I didn’t have corn starch in my kitchen cabinet. The purpose of adding it anyway is to make the mixture a little sticky. Now when the boiling mixture matched my taste, I added the egg and mixed flour and stirred what’s on the pan. Then I added the basil leaves, covered the pan and let it simmer for few minutes. The scent of the herbs filled our small kitchen area and extended to the living room and bedroom which made us hungry right away. Good thing the rice is already cooked so after allowing the dish to simmer, it was time to get the serving bowl and lay the dish on the table. We set aside Jade’s porridge and decided to serve her plain rice with the crab meat either from mommy or daddy’s plate. Of course, compliments in forms of “wows” and “sarap” followed while we were feasting on this newly discovered viand recipe. I ate bare handed which made it even better for me to enjoy the meal.

I will still have to work on the pesto but the next thing I have know is where to find the pine nuts.

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The Clone!

You guessed it right, I am still online at this time of the night! I finally got to publish my two posts that remained in draft for almost two weeks now. I am about to call it a night but I decided to browse some funny videos and found this funny baby video which is the third from a series of "n". I thought this is the same laughing baby but after watching, it made me uncertain now. I guess the popular laughing baby is a boy, the baby on this video is a girl and her dad did this and the other videos.

Definitely, there were effects implemented in this video but I just love it I wanted to share here. I'll show it to Jade tomorrow.

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anticipation or instinct?

During our 2006 summer vacation back home, we dropped by Tam-awan Village after the family's Asin swimming. I was a no-first timer to this place however it was my first time to see the artists stationed there and offering sketch services to the place's visitors. We took a quick look at the displayed images but decided to head to the coffee shop first as we were all famished. Then my sisters went back to the artists' post and asked my niece to pose. At first, we thought only one artist will work on the subject but it turned out that two guys actually got their papers and pens and started to chalk out my niece who was behaved well during the entire course.

Thinking that our daughter may be not be willing to be seated for a long time, we didn't follow suit. But after my niece's sketches were completed, we eventually decided to have Jade take the subject's seat. For few minutes, she kept still and behaved well but realizing the absence of entertainments around her made her start to get bored and attempted to get free from mommy's arms. The other artists then started to make different sounds and actions to make her calm. Everyone noticed a cat around so they called feline near the artists sketching her such that they could still take a look at her face. Finally, the wait was over.

At that time, Jade had very short hair and may have even looked more like a boy so we were grinning to see how the sketched looked like. Expecting us to question it, the two artists explained to us right away that they lengthened her hair so that she'll appear girlish. We were pleased for the consideration they regarded. Somehow, it made sense to us. We brought her sketches with us here in Taiwan and having no space to display it in our small apartment, they were kept in our document storage bin.

The younger artist displaying Jade's sketch

Jade: Who is that? She doesn't look like me at all!

The senior artist finishing touches!
Jade: Mommy, bring me down! I want to go play with Manang.

We didn't think of it until several weeks ago, hubby asked me to look at Jade as he exclaimed “she looks like the painting now!” I asked him what painting he was talking about and he told me “the one from Baguio”. It took me a while to pick up what he was saying until I realized “ah, the sketches from Tam-awan.” I stared at our daughter and seconded Dennis statement about her now looking like the way she was sketched six months ago. I opened my online album after that and realized that she looked more like the sketch done by the younger artist compared to that of the other guy. (I forgot their names, they have etched it in the papers but I'm too lazy to dig them now.)

Closer look at the 1st artist's piece.

Jade looks closely to this.

Jade's latest studio picture

Doesn't her hairdo resemble the sketch?

Nah, she was too serious she didn't even smile.

Now, did the artists anticipate that she'll eventually sport that kind of hairdo or was it a father's instinct they exhibited there? Hmmnn, I'm not even sure if they are family men. But no matter what, we appreciate it.

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The works!

I’ve been aiming to publish at least one post from my drafts last weekend but I wasn’t able to do that. My thoughts were simply disorganized that completing one seemed a very long time. Instead of pursuing it, I decided to work on my page customization in a semiempirical way. I made use of the trial and error method and that meant numerous clicks on the “preview” and “clear unsaved edits” buttons. Nah, it wasn’t all in a day’s work as it took me three non-consecutive nights to get it done. I’d say I am happy with the outcome.

Working on the template’s code using “edit html” and “add page elements” (javasript/html) were mostly what I did. And why is that? It’s because I simple don’t know how to work directly on the html codes and I don’t have the luxury of time to study it. I used google search and luckily, I bumped into Vin’s Dummies Guide to Google Blogger (Beta) blog where I found almost all I needed to come up with the layout I wanted. It was a matter of understanding the articles published and following the simply instructions provided. I didn’t even have to type codes because it was as simple as doing “copy and paste” and editing the variables to incorporate my actual blog’s name. (But I maybe asked why it took me 3 nights to do it if it’s a matter of copy and paste only – that’s another story :).

Anyhow, here are changes recently implemented in my blog’s layout …

1. Three column width – this is one thing I wanted to do since I saw several WP themes displaying such format. It even made me think of migrating to WP but eventually, the idea was shrugged off. Vin provided the codes and explained in detail what it implied. I had to make few tweaks on the width figures and alignment of the sidebar as the code provided is for right sidebar but what I wanted was a left sidebar since the opposite already existed.

2. Post expandable summaries – I may not have long posts all the time but it helps having a post summary and having it expanded independently to read the whole thing. Installing the codes made all posts have the “read more” line at the end by default so I had to edit the latest 7 posts which are displayed in the main page such that the “read more” option exist in the midst of the post body. I also tweaked the codes such that the “read more” line is shown in bold and caps lock fonts. From it, I learned several tag codes and tag termination.

3. New window view for my blogroll – a friend has already informed me how to do this before but I was not able to incorporate it at that time. I thought I can simply paste the code in the page element but no, I had to insert it in the expanded widgets code. That meant I had to scroll down the html scripts to find the blogroll widget. Anyhow, this will now enable my blog friends to open the links without leaving my blog.

4. Option to subsribe to my blog – at first, I only got the chicklet from feedburner then I figured out, there’s also an option to offer email subscription. The codes were provided separately but I thought of merging them in a single page element.

5. Recent comments display – Vin showed two options and I chose the simpler one – that is to display 5 recent comments. Clicking them will bring you to the commented post page.

Earlier than the above implementation, I also added three pictures at the right sidebar showing my daughter and hubby. I also organized all my posts categories but may still need to narrow them down. And yes, I enrolled my blog back to PPP several weeks ago but I only got to post the tools the other night. I got the codes from PPP’s customer support because I cannot view them in my explorer window but figured out later that codes show up well in firefox (that’s another story too).

So there! I still have some items left in my to-do list and that includes changing the header image because I only borrowed the image from a multiply template.

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Ninety Five

Wow, who would have thought of blogging at the age of 95?

I bumped into this site while surfing the net and I thought I'd have it shared in my blog. I am actually surprised to learn that a "lola" is blogging HERE. It made me ask myself - "will I reach that age?" and "would I be blogging if I were her?"

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When it rains

it pours… so don’t forget your umbrella! – quotable quote from my friend, Sheng.

I am taking a few minutes break from work and that break to me means scribbling down this post – I’ll take another break later to get a cup of hot drink from the cafeteria. Hay, I’ve been very busy since last week and my “system” is doing a total adjustment. It has been six months since the last time I was really busy at work. Wow, that’s two quarters! So what did I do all this time? Hmmnnn, two months was the official vacation leave while four months was spent at work but not really doing much. I even had to talk to my boss several times to ask for tasks to do. He did gave me some but weren’t that much to eat up the whole office hours so I still had chances to surf the net and update my blog/s.

Now that I am starting with a new project, I find it quite strange to see myself busy. But this is not even comparable to how busy I was for the past two years when even at the peak of my pregnancy, I got to work until 1am. Yes, I worked on more than 5 major projects by myself – that meant staying late at work almost everyday as I needed to collate and edit reports, update emails, generate my own reports, attend night telecons and do other things I shouldn’t really be responsible of. Good thing my Jade didn’t decide to come out while I was on a meeting.

If somebody gets back to me like this - I'm might not be able to control my temper and give him/her a punch (not the drinks, ok :) ).

I should be able to shrug off this kind of “new” working scheme yet I have to welcome the delight of not having to worry about overcoming a day-long or even worse, a week-long boredom that results from being idled. Gotta get that cup of drink now and finish my “to do’s” else I’ll end up dumped with more of it.

PS. I got several posts kept in my draft and I’m not sure when they’ll get published. Anyhow, I’ll get back on my regular blogging activities in no time.

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a pet's wakeup call

I saw this video when I opened my explorer window last night and I found it very cute. Good thing we don't keep a pet at home. If ever, I'd make sure it doesn't get the chance to enter the bedroom :)

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igorotblogger.com in the making

Bill from the boondocks won the contest here. More to that, his rival Rachel was also announced as a winner. How very generous the host is for deciding to give these two bloggers their own domains. I liked how Tina wrote about her lessons-learned in one of her posts prior to announcing the winner/s.

Kudos to all participants.

PS. I just checked the soon to be domain and noted that it's already alive

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Oceanic khanas

Out of grief over Miki's loss, Ate Rosie and Kuya Jack decided not to spend the rest of the day in their home last Friday. After hours of trying to calm themselves, Ate invited me and Jade to go with them to the seashore somewhere in Taoyuan. They prefer to keep themselves busy to help them somehow forgot what just happened earlier. Taking this opportunity to see the place, I said yes right away.

On their last visit to the place, Ate gave me a share of the squid she bought from the wet market in Taoyuan. She boasted about the handful yet cheap seafood varieties they saw in the place and her thought of buying one basin full of different fishes. Asked by her husband how she'll consume them all gave her second thoughts though so she shrugged off the idea from her mind. When she told me about it, I told her she should have just bought them all and we could share among our other friends and pay her back. Knowing that we were interested, she planned bringing us to the place two weeks from now to match her hubby's day-off from work. Somehow, the waiting time was shortened.

Taoyuan is a county located in the northwestern part of Taiwan, next to Taipei County. In Chinese, "Taoyuan" means "peach garden," since the area used to have many peach blossoms. One of the main reasons this county is popular is because the Taoyuan City is home to the then called Chiang-Kai-Shek International Airport, the gateway to Taiwan. The airport's name has eventually been changed to Taoyuan International Airport. So it's not really our first time to set foot on the place because we have been in and out of the airport several times already. That also prompted me to tell them to drive us straight to the airport instead of tagging us home back to Taipei after visiting the wet market.

Anyway, on our way, we saw the usual huge waves by the sea - the highway was beside the Taiwan Strait. I only knew now that the body of water is called Taiwan Strait - earlier during our trip, I asked Kuya if it was part of the China Sea - being sensitive to China-Taiwan things - he looked at me and uttered seriously "this is no China - this is Taiwan!" I should be very careful next time. Locals here are sensitive about this issue nowadays.

The drive to the place was around one hour - I guess it was less than an hour. We headed to the port right away and from today's research, I found out that the place we went to is just one of the ports in Taoyuan and it is called Jhuwei Fishing Port. At the back of my mind, I remember seeing a sign "Taipei port". I captured some excerpt from Taiwan's Council of Agriculture website to tell a little more about the place.

Jhuwei is located in the Dayuan Township near Bali Township in Taipei County. Because of its beauty, it has become one of the top recreational areas for Taipei residents. Tourists go there for the glorious sunset and the grand splashing of the waves against the northern bank. The Jhuwei Tourism Fish Market, the most famous and the biggest fish market in northern Taoyuan, opens all-year round. It has an area of more than 25,000 sq feet (700 ping) and packs 77 stalls. Tourists can buy fresh seafood on the first floor or eat seafood on the second floor. The chefs on the second floor are more than happy to cook the seafood bought on the first floor. (BTW, ping is the unit of measurement they use for floor areas. One ping is equivalent to around 36 sq. feet or 3.5 square meters.)

One of the significant things I noticed as we entered the market place is the absence of foul odors or in other words, fishy smell. The other thing is that I expected the floor to be wet because I am used to going to the fish market that is literally wet, but no, the floor is dry. The first stall that we saw was selling huge fish varieties. All I uttered is "wow" and of course, click click click went my small camera.

We went from one stall to the other looking for the items listed in our minds - salmon, shrimps, squid and anything else (that could be a lot huh!). We surveyed the place first before buying.

Ate and Kuya kept talking to me as I also kept asking them what kind of fish is this or that or what part of a fish is that, is that really part of the fish, etc. etc. Of course, Jade also looked around with curiousity and followed me saying "wow". In one stalls, the owner was talking in a loud voice, I thought he was fighting with the customer but noting that there was no air of fight, I asked Ate why his voice is that loud. I figured out he was just reacting that way because nobody wanted to buy the fishes in his stall. You know why? It's because they're so huge and bunched up in a basin where one contained around three pieces of huge fishes and they are sold not by piece but by bunch. My, I wouldn't by one myself. We can't consume them all. We passed through stalls that sell any of the these - fishes alone, fish varieties, shrimp varieties, squids, crabs, seashells, seaweeds, lobsters, clams, combination of them all, sashimi, octopus tentacles, fish egg, etc. There's this fish meat that looked like a jelly - silky and very white - I was told, it's a part of a fish stomach wall - could be of a shark's. I also saw a quite ugly fish and Kuya told me it's from deep water - the uglier the fish is, the deeper it came from. It reminded me of one show I saw on TV about the discovery of grotesque fishes on one part of the ocean somewhere around the world.

Anyhow, the sea wonder that amazed me most was the humongous crabs that were even bigger than my face. Ate and Kuya kept telling me about it on our way to the stall. At first, I couldn't believe when they told me about its size, and especially its cost - 3000NTD per piece - that's around 4000PHP based on the current forex rate. My, who buy that? I already saw the biggest lobster around the market but was yet to see the largest crab in my entire life. When we reached the stall, I was finally convinced about its size because I saw it myself. They had something like thorns on their shells. I unit thought the length of the legs I saw was just it only to be told they're folded so when I looked closer, I realized how huge they really are. In Taiwan, the common unit of measurement is by 600grams or jin as it is locally termed. Thus 600 grams would be i-jin while 1200grams would be er-jin. "I" (pronounced as "ee") and "er" mean one and two respectively. The stall owner informed us that i-jin of the crab costs 680NTD, Ate and Kuya said it's cheaper this time of the year compared to its price during the Chinese New Year where i-jin would cost more than 800NTD. The couple had already tried this kind of crab and they described it to be very very delicious - I am convinced merely by their facial and verbal expressions. I could put exclamation point at the end of their statements. They told me the shell is very soft and the crabs are from the deep waters of Japan. That time, I learned further that not all seafoods sold in that market are from Taiwan itself but most are imported from Japan.

After seeing most of the place and ending in that humongous crab stall for several minutes, we bought the bunch of shrimps from the ladyowner - it costs 380NTD - we shared it with our other friend. We decided it's time to do the "fishing" but before that, Ate asked me to call our friend Juvel to check what she wanted us to buy for her then off we went to get our shares. We bought squid, crab legs (I prefer the legs because it's meaty compared to the crab body), shrimps, fresh dilis, clams and sashimi. We couldn't find a desirable salmon meat and we didn't want the head part this time so we took it out from our list. I wanted to buy even more but thinking of how small our storage bin is stopped me from getting more than planned. There'll be another chance anyway.

Outside the market building, cooked and ready to eat varieties were also sold. At the entrance/exit door, they were selling cooked small crabs at a price of 100NTD for three pieces. Other than that, the rest includes fried varieties and the popular spiced seashells (bisukol). I asked Ate if she tried that and she said yes and it tasted good. I wondered how they suck the meat out without cracking/biting the tip - the procedure I knew since childhood. They kept asking me what I liked them to buy among the cooked ones but I told them seeing the variety of seafoods inside the market was enough for me. We just went to the store to get hot coffee which we finished outside the store while Jade run around the place.

We strolled further along the shore and I saw that there are other stalls there as well but more of the real wet ones where the fishes are scattered on the floor. I guess it's cheaper there. We didn't stay long because it was too windy. Again, there'll be another chance anyway. We decided to head back home and on our way, Kuya bought us hot sugarcane juice which he said is good for our coughs. We also dropped by a store in Bali to buy salted eggs. We arrived home just before dinner giving me time to cook the first dish out from our "fishing".

I have the complete set of pictures taken inside the market in an album HERE.

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