Another 'love at first sight'

Mahirap ang buhay. Alam naman nating lahat ‘yon. Kaya as much as possible, we want to have the most value for the money we shell out. Sulit, in other words.

Gragraduate na ako, which I guess is synonymous with ‘begging for money on the streets.’ Lol. Pero the fact na graduating student na ako, this is my last chance na abusuhin ang kuryente ng eskwelahan ko, pati na ang internet na binabayaran ko, at ang mga libro sa library na pwede kong hiramin.

It became a task to me to borrow books from the library as a way to maximize the benefits I’ve paid for, especially now that I have this craving for books. Hindi naman kasi ako bookworm. I like reading novels, but I can’t say that I love doing it. =)

Sa kaatatan ko, dumaan na ako sa library a day before the school starts thinking na baka pwede nang manghiram kahit ‘term break’ pa rin. Napahiya ang lola mo, dahil obviously, hindi pa pwede. Kaya kahapon na lang ako nagpunta ng library, since kahapon lang ako naging free from OJT.

I searched for Rich Dad, Poor Dad through the OPAC, a computer system that enables you to check if books are available, or out, or reserved, or lost. Unfortunately, wala siya. As in, lost. So I tried to look for a nice book from the shelves. Kahit ano na, basta medyo maganda. But I didn’t have the instincts na nagsasabing, “Ah maganda itong book na ito.” Kaya I decided to just leave the library and maybe just come back after two to three if the librarians are able to find the lost Rich Dad, Poor Dad book already. But by the door of the circulation section of the library, merong maliit na de-ikot na shelf for fiction books. Doon na lang ako pumili. I saw Dean Koontz’s book first. I took it, pero hindi ko masyadong nagustuhan yung plot. Tapos tumingin ako ulit ng iba, meron ulit Dean Koontz. So I got this feeling na sikat siya, given that most of his books are being displayed by the door of that particular section of the library.

I got ‘Life Expectancy.’ And I just finished reading its first chapter. Maganda siya. And I could agree sa mga ‘ editorial comments’ na nakalagay sa cover ng book. Sa few pages na nabasa ko, I could say na the book has humor and suspense, just the things I like.

Let’s just see if I become a fan of Dean Koontz. =)

The Yum! Recipe

It's not like I'm Katherine from Desperate Housewives who would not give out or share a single recipe. And you don't have to be Bree Hodge who had to break in a house just to get it. =)

Actually, the recipe for my carbonara was just from the net (http://www2.kitchenomics.com/cgi-bin/dmk2006/read_recipes.cgi?action=show_recipe&start=0&recipe=159&template=recipe_category&category=Kiddie). For me, this is the easiest and safest amongst the available recipes online. I remember the recipe I tried the first time. It was horrible. It just tasted milk, milk, milk. And the hardest part of it was to force yourself to eat it and convince people that it wasn't that bad and that the taste was tolerable.

By the way, I actually didn't follow strictly the del monte kitchenomics recipe. I made some changes... I doubled the measurement for the pasta, butter and milk. I intended to double the amount of flour as well, but as I've mentioned, I ran of flour. So I guess I was only able to put around 2.5 tbsp. :) Also, for the water, I couldn't remember if I doubled its measurement or not. Hehe. The bacon was 200g rather than 150g. I used PORK broth cube instead of chicken (NOTE: and I didn't double its measurement). And I didn't put any cheese even if I have one whole quick melt cheese in the fridge that I haven't used since I bought it. Hehe. Sure that my mother's nagging routine affected my mood to put cheese. Haha.

Next time I would cook carbonara, I guess I would stick with the pork broth cubes. I'll also put cheese and I might add some canned button mushrooms. :)


The public demand for the recipe is really flattering. Hahaha Public demand talaga?
:)

Yum!

Last night, I made my second shot of Spaghetti Carbonara.

If I were a kindergarten student, I guess I would have gotten a star on my hand for a job-well-done! Actually, it’s more on me giving myself a star for a job-well-done. Lol.

To be perfectly honest, whoever would give me that star, I know I deserve it (pagbigyan niyo na ako). That Spaghetti Carbonara I made last night was definitely way better than my first attempt. Although last night’s sauce was not thick enough (because I ran out of flour), at least now, it already tasted like a real carbonara!

Here are the pictures of the pasta I cooked! I tried a lomo effect on the other one. I hope it looks ‘lomo’ to you. Haha!

McDreamy Trivia

I remember the very first time I watched Grey’s Anatomy in Studio 23. I couldn’t comprehend much of the story since that particular episode was already a part of season three. Nevertheless, I was entertained by the cute punchlines by the good-looking surgeons of Seattle Grace Hospital, especially by Dr. Derek Shepherd. ;-)

It was a love at first sight, both by the show and by the actor behind Derek Shepherd’s character. I liked Patrick Dempsey, but more as Derek Shepherd. To me, he’s this beardy sexy doctor you’d wish to attend you when you are sick, or should I say you’d wish you would get sick more often. He’s also the few dirty faced guys I consider to be sexy. But did you know that before he grew this bush on his face, he has this past that I can’t consider to be sexy? Not at all. Never.


I just knew this from cable. Patrick Dempsey got his first marriage at 21 to a 26 years older woman, Rocky Parker. And by that age, he was already a stepfather to a 22-year old stepson.

A very silly idea, isn’t?

Oh well, they don’t look like a couple to me, but they’re more of a mother-son relationship.

Good in Bed, Jennifer Weiner

It’s a chick lit. It’s up to you if you’d take it as a compliment, but for me, it’s a disappointment.

It was the ‘chick lit’ and being the author of ‘In Her Shoes’ and the humor that the reviews have been saying that made me buy the book. Contrary to the entertainment and the laugh-out-loud experience that I was expecting from the book, I find it as a chore to finish it, especially when I asked it as a ‘pasalubong’ from my Uncle who’s based in the States. But I have to admit that there’s a part in the book where her humor effected on me. It’s where she said that she dreamed that both of her breasts were rolling away from her due to the pain she was experiencing being pregnant. The rest of her humor, however, was hard to understand and I guess wasn’t a ‘universal’ one.

Another, I don’t know if the author wants to make an impression from the readers to have mastered vocabularies from the dictionary. She has this thing on using deep synonyms than using words that are easy to understand. Along with the chore of finishing the book, I also had to bring a dictionary with me in order to understand words I’ve never encountered before.

It was a surprise to me that the book talked less on the romantic part, which was the first thing I want from a chick lit, and talked more the issue of being a larger woman. The main character, Candace or Cannie Shapiro, was also a pathetic one during the climax. Giving a premature birth to her daughter served as the character’s turning point, but she chose to face it the rueful way, doing beyond normal activities. The author, I guess, wanted to appeal to pity from the readers, wanted to make the readers say their ‘awwws’ and cry. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the effect on a stone-hearted reader like me (sarcastic)!

In Need of Chocolates

I assume you've somehow heard of the saying 'Happiness is a choice.' Even before this was introduced in our Lasaret (LaSallian Retreat) last January or when my friend, Misha, mentioned it in her blog recently, I've always believed that everyone can be happy whenever he/she wants to ecperience it.


However, sometimes, it's not enough for you to choose to be happy if others just choose to make you sad. Some of you might say that it's the sadness or the pessimism talking. But when you think about it, I actually have a point.


As Nicholas Sparks' mother would say, what you want and what you get are two different things and that nobody promised life to be fair. True-laloo. It's not always possible to cut Charmie's hair (Yes, my friend allowed me to cut her hair for about two inches shorter, which made me feel better and worthy) to lift my spirits up--as if her hair grows an inch each day--whenever someone thinks of dragging me into the world of loneliness.

Mood: Reluctant. Apathetic. Gloomy.

Three Weeks With My Brother

I bought this book thinking that I would get entertained by both the memoir of Sparks family and Micah & Nicholas' trip around the world. Although the brothers' trip around the world didn't amuse me as a traveler, I could say that the book is still worth to read. It's not a total disappointment.

We've known Nicholas Sparks as the author who would really melt every reader's heart with his fictional stories. With this book, you'll know that even his real life is one kind of a drama.