Holy crap I tried to install Wordpress 2.0 and for a few hours I thought I totally fucked up my blog. Thankfully I was a good girl and archived everything. I’ll try again next time.
Monthly Archive for December, 2005
RJ and I dropped J off at the airport yesterday and he is now in Manila. I know it is a bit wussy but I already miss him.
It actually wasn’t too bad during the day because I got to watch Munich (great must-see movie btw) and had dinner with JD and his family (he’s a friend of J and RJ) — but when I got home and looked around I started getting a bit sad. It was so quiet 
and weird that I wasn’t waiting for him to come home.
Argh. 2 weeks isn’t long really. We’ve spent 4 years apart so I just have to suck it up a bit.
J got me a new pair of running shoes the day before he left so I think I’ll exercise a bit while he is gone. I’ve been chomping way too much this holiday season anyway.
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I got a mobile phone shortly after I arrived here and when we went to the shop to look at the models I was pretty surprised to see how backward the US models were. Clamshells seem pretty popular too, much more than back home.
Anyway, I’m not really a phone aficionado - all I want is a phone with a large address book / memory that is small enough to just pop in your backpocket and sturdy enough for a butterfinger like me.
I ended up with a Samsung SGH-X497.
It’s pretty basic and it isn’t ugly plus it was cheap (haha). The thing with this phone is that it has an external volume button that when pressed for a few seconds makes the phone go on silent mode. So when the phone is in my pocket and I bend or move a bit…. BONGO there goes the phone on silent mode. I once missed 4 calls in a day thanks to this smart feature you freaking Samsung phone designers. J would get truly pissed.
So when J’s phone subscription tie-in period was over he decided to switch to the same provider I was using, and he got to pick a new phone. He got one for me to use and I have to say I was pretty excited to get it. It was the new SE Z520a - a camera phone, with a unique antenna, much much sleeker than my old one.
When I finally got it it was just as pretty as I imagined.
And I had a really cool ringtone called FilterFreak.
It had this pretty annoying way of taking pictures of my pocket (a very sensitive side button) but I could live with that.
Unfortunately the phone hanged one day and after that I think the mic went bonkers. No one could hear me speak. J would call, I would answer “hello hello hellllooooowww” and then he would mutter “Oh gad I can’t believe this” 
So the SE is back in the shop and I am back to my lowtech crappo mobile. And there ends my foray into the universe of cool phones.
The last 2 weeks have been WET WET WET. I look at the sky, and if it isn’t cloudy white, it is cloudy grey. I can’t believe I will be walking through puddles under gloomy skies WITHOUT THE HUSBAND FOR 2 WEEKS - he is leaving on the 24th and will be back on the 8th of January.
Wonder how I will spend my time.
I’m not crazy for cheese. Not like my friends Erika and RJ anyway. But this has got to be one of the best ones I’ve tried.
Get it quick because I tried to get more the next day and all that was left of 2 wheels was 2 slices (which RJ got for us).
I guess it is true that the longer you keep from writing the harder it is to start. I think I will try to write at least every other day so that things will flow a bit more easily again.
I cut my hair. Really short. I’ve been getting a bit tired of my birds-nest-of-hair and so when I went for a haircut last week I decided to have most of it lopped off. I have to say I got a bit nervous seeing all the hair on the floor because J prefers my hair long. Too late for regrets na, after about an hour I ended up with this.
I think I like it but I know J hates it
In any case, its just hair. It will grow again, and I think since J detests my short hair so much (he doesn’t say, but I know so) I’ll just fork over the extra dough and have monthly haircuts (to prevent birdnesting) once I’m back to a workable length.
So I’ve got my own place on the web now and I think I am enjoying the tinkering. I can’t code or anything like that and I am still asking the husband nicely to make me a new header image. In the meantime I am moving things here and there, trying to figure out how to organize things.
It’s getting pretty cold here now. The temp ranges from the mid30s to the mid60s. Thankfully (for now) it doesn’t snow in San Francisco. I don’t think I have adjusted that well to the cold yet.
from Epicurious
2 pounds well-trimmed boneless beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions, sliced
6 whole cloves
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 cinnamon sticks or about 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 1/2 cups whole milk or coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, quartered
3 tablespoons Major Grey chutney or any mango / tamarind chutney
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Working in batches, add beef to pot and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes per batch. Using slotted spoon, transfer to plate.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Add onions; sauté until tender and brown, about 7 minutes. Return beef to pot. Add cloves, garlic, cinnamon sticks, bay leaf and dried red pepper to pot; stir 1 minute. Stir in milk, tomatoes, chutney, lemon juice, ginger, curry powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until beef is tender, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours.
Uncover; increase heat to medium. Boil stew until juices are slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Serve over rice.
The recent cold has been quite a shock to my system and I was none too pleased to have a broken home furnace during the freezing week. I know it is “only” 2 degrees Celsius and that it is much colder in NY and other parts but hey, I’ve got the blood of an Indio and need my time adjusting. Scarves help though, and so do gloves. A lot.
I’ve actually been hanging around an architectural office recently doing this and that and I am actually getting around to understanding the English system I was ranting earlier about. It’s not too hard I guess, just a whole new list of things I need to familiarize myself with. I go in some days a week, stay a few hours, read a few books, etc etc.
But now that I am at an office most of the day I start to see the difficulty of doing chores and cooking when you have a job. It just seems like there isn’t enough time for anything. I’ve cut back a bit on my cooking adventures, and now cook dishes enough for 2 or 3 meals and pop them in the freezer.
I’m also missing Manila - my family, my pets, my office (kingdom), and the food. I get to talk to my family but still miss them a lot. And I want to pet my cats and dogs too, and check on things at work.
I had originally thought that I wouldn’t be able to go back home because the money was needed for mom’s treatment but the beloved husband told me he would get my ticket. So by Feb 4 I will be in Countryside eating my inihaw na baboy with garlic rice. Yum!
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