Sunday, October 27, 2002
It's that time of the year again when we Filipinos trek to the cemetery to visit our loved ones. We normally do it on November 1st, but since we have to visit more than one cemetery, we decided to visit the Chinese cemetery this weekend. We thought we were smart by going a week early, but I guess everyone was smart -- or maybe we just all decided to visit the same cemetery today. (I found out Tara and Sheryll's families were there too, among others.) We were a few hundred meters away from the entrance to the Chinese cemetery but the traffic wasn't moving at all, so my aunt, my brother Kris, and I, just decided to walk all the way to my grandparents' "apartment" (took us 20 minutes in the scorching heat). Cemeteries here are broken down into mansions, houses, apartments, and normal spaces, depending on how rich your family is at that time. I guess my grandparents weren't doing that badly, since they got an "apartment". We stayed there for a while, offering flowers, fruits, burning Chinese money and incense. My mom's parents were more traditional, so we honored them this way. I had to explain to my Catholic-schooled niece why we needed to burn money for my grandparents. She emphatically said: "You don't need money in heaven!"
Now that I've grown up, I actually look forward to these events. I like these get togethers with my relatives. We're all there for a common purpose -- to show our appreciation for the people responsible for our existence. We visited my dad's grandparents and great grandparents. Wow, my family's been in the Philippines for a LONG time. I wish I could've seen how they lived. My mom was telling me I have a great granduncle who was a hero during WWII. He was tortured and killed by the Japanese and is buried in that cemetery with his fellow heroes. We were going to visit him too but the kids were complaining already. I'm hoping these kids will learn to appreciate these customs someday as well. I surely want someone visiting me when I'm gone.
Posted by Karen @ 03:53 AM PST [Link]
Thursday, October 24, 2002
I've made up my own recipes before, but I never really wrote any of them down. Thus, I can never reproduce them. Today I created my first official recipe -- Milk Chocolate Mango Mousse Cake. It's actually a hack from different recipes I've accumulated. It's a biscuit cake with one layer of milk chocolate mousse and one layer of mango mousse.
I was afraid it wouldn't turn out ok because I only approximated the measurements; which in baking, is sort of taboo. But I just decided to try my luck. The mango mousse was a little soft so I increased the gelatin from 1/2 to 1 package. It is imperative that you use Philippine mangoes. Heh, ok, any sweet mangoes will do. I'm just a fruit snob.
I'm not going to show you a picture of it because it's in the fridge downstairs and I'm too lazy. I tasted the milk chocolate mousse and the mango mousse individually and they taste great. I'm not sure how they taste together because I only made enough for one cake and I have to give it to my godmother for her birthday tomorrow. Feel free to substitute bittersweet chocolate for the milk chocolate. I just used that because I have a lot of them in my fridge, and I think dark chocolate might overpower the mangoes. If you have any questions, just email me.
Posted by Karen @ 05:35 AM PST [Link]
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Another weekend come and gone, but aah, the pleasures of unemployment. No monday morning blues. No sleepy-eyed Karen lining up with the 9am Starbucks crowd. Today I am thankful, but sometimes, I really miss working. I miss the people I work with and the satisfaction I get from completing a project....but I especially miss my morning bagel at People's cafe and the trip to Starbucks for my 'Tall mild'. :)
I guess I miss the routine. My old routine. I'm a routine girl. But I've established a new one now, and I enjoy it as well. Exercise in the morning, lunch with someone (I try to grab whoever's available, usually my best friend or my sis-in-law), work at home for a bit, try to grab someone for coffee or merienda (snack), have dinner, then work again till bedtime. On the weekends, I usually cook dinner for my family -- tonight I made Vietnamese Beef Tenderloin (a big hit), Gindara Saikyo (marinated black cod), and chocolate pots de creme (recipe from Zuni Cafe). I feel like cooking again tomorrow. I'm exploring this cookbook that KC lent me -- Tropical Asian Cooking... lots of interesting stuff.
I have another month to enjoy this routine, then I'm off to torture myself in the kitchens of Paris. Whee!
Posted by Karen @ 06:05 AM PST [Link]
Friday, October 18, 2002
I haven't left my house the whole day so I'm quite excited to go out tonight. I'm meeting some friends over at Jack's Loft (some trendy cafe I've never been to) in Eastwood City. I hope there won't be any bombs there tonight. Everybody's been acting quite paranoid today. There are rumors of bomb threats all over Manila. I hope they remain rumors.
When I had just arrived from San Francisco, I was so paranoid. Now I think I got used to things being 'dangerous'. The news always makes it look ten times worse than it is anyway. But there's no way of knowing when it's going to happen, when it's going to be you in the news. I'll be extra careful.
Posted by Karen @ 03:00 AM PST [Link]
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
Well, I've gotten my French visa -- or part of it. I still need to get my carte de sejour when I arrive in Paris, and a lot of people say it is a BIG pain in the neck. The head of the visa section, a really nice French guy, was offering me the less painful 6 month non-renewable visa, although this would prevent me from extending my stage (internship) for another 3 months. So I decided to go the harder route, I'll just tough it out and line up with the rest of the foreigners getting their carte de sejour.
I wish I were a diplomat, then I can travel anywhere I want. Garry says without these visa issues, I would be bored. Maybe he's right. But it sure stresses the hell out of me. I admit that I do get a bit of a high once I do get the visa. Heh.
Now everything's back to normal. Garry's went back home. :( At least I can still look forward to my trip to Paris. The next time I see him it'll be Christmas, my favorite time of the year, and we'll be in the most romantic city in the world. :)
Posted by Karen @ 11:42 PM PST [Link]
Tuesday, October 8, 2002
| I'm so psyched coz' Garry's arriving tomorrow! :) He's going to be here for only 6 days though. I hope he gets over his jet lag and doesn't get sick. Good news! My US visa got approved! I can legally go back to the US now, as a tourist of course. Whew. Spent the past two days learning more about cake decorating at Heny Sison's school. We made all sorts of flowers: daisies, apple blossoms, forget-me-nots, violets, lilies, carnations, chrysanthemums, etc. We used royal icing for the flowers and leaves, then made a woven basket from boiled icing. Am pretty happy with the results, looks nice from afar! Heh. (to the untrained eye) Flower Basket -- took me 2 days to finish this! Here's a view from the back.
| 
|
