Nenyalorien's Guide to Urban Living

Mean Sisig. And I'm on a fast. Duh.

2009-01-13T07:52:00.000+08:00

Yeaaaaaah! I love the way this guy cookz his Sisig. It's versatile: both the dry and the gelatinous Sisig could be culled from this batch.

Mehn. How on earth did I find the most rockin' recipes on my fast???

Yesterday, it was Minestrone from Inquirer.net. Today, it's an uncanny scene of a Caucasian man cooking a meaner Sisig than Breakthrough's to-die-for batch!!!

Oh man.

I would love to try this recipe sometime, but I'm not as confident that I had absorbed his methods well. As it is, I shall watch this vid again, take notes, and let the cooking commence when I am able. Nyehehe!

Looking forward to Sisig with some ginger-based drink or something. It seems to go well with beer, but as per my convictions + biological chemistry, I am not inclined to take anything alcoholic anytime soon. :p

Today, I am strengthening my desire to beg God for a juicer. I am looking forward to juicing my own Ginger-Pineapple-Orange drink sometime soon. And pair it with Sisig I made myself. Oh bliss. (Erm, size 40 waistline, prepare to expand...)

Maybe tomorrow's a good day to start looking for new clients while I wait for my job offer. Heheheh. Yow, if you need writerz, am here. :p

Slow Me Down: Seriously Sabbath Sunday

2008-12-01T00:46:00.000+08:00

Today, I had been filled with sermons telling me to REST. The entire November was filled with such toil and trouble that I was actually already wondering if I was a member of the cast of Macbeth or something.. "Double double, toil and trouble..."

I decided not to go to church and just have my own service in my room, again. No use wasting energy getting on a jeepney and seeing energy-drainin' scenarios and energy-drainin' pplz. Heheh.

Uncannily enough, I chose Pastor Joey Bonifacio's "Curse of Restlessness" for my "Sunday Sermon." The title was just intriguing, and I just thought it would be a fun thing to listen to for my "Seriously Sabbath Sunday."

And you know what it was all about? Entering God's REST.

There is a reason why God had created us on the Sixth day, and Adam woke up to fellowship with Him on the 7th day. Pastor Joey said that this is because God did not want us to see Him working. God's priority is that we be able to walk with Him and enjoy His presence, as well as His creation with Him.

From that sermon, I realized that the constant running around and the mentality of "Busybusybusybusybusy," is not a blessing; rather it is a curse: the same curse that God had put on Cain when he committed the first murder: Restlessness.

After this sermon, I had decided to also listen to renowned prophet, pastor, teacher and writer Rick Joyner's "Entering God's Rest." Same thing. We need to rest. Same thing: God did not create TOIL. In fact, it is a curse. But God DID create LABOR, and LABOR is supposed to be enjoyable. Work is supposed to be enjoyable and holy.

After I listened to those sermons, I went, "WHOA!"

So for all those 8 weeks of grueling torture under toil, where I was actually being an idiot, running around like Alice in Wonderland's White Rabbit, I was, in reality, under a "Curse of Restlessness."

Most people would deem me crazy/idiotic/stupid for letting go of a client that had allowed me to neutralize a big chunk off my current debt. You know what, the day after I let go, and I decided to fully rest, and the depression dissipated, I FELT SO MUCH BETTER.

I let go of that client because things were already emotionally maddening. There was deception and power-playing involved, manipulation, so much strife, and it was no longer a healthy situation. My emotional makeup was absolutely shot: I hated them, I hated all work, even for the clients I've been with for a while, and even those that I had struck a great rapport with.

I had never made a better decision in my life.

After listening to this sermon, and searching for Jewish Superstar Emmy Rossum of Phantom of the Opera's SLOW ME DOWN, I finally got it.

After "my own service" at home, cooking lunch for meh and enjoying it with God in a lazy, quiet, Sunday, I went off to my boarding house's subdivision playground. I had always told God, whenever I passed by that playground, that I'd like to be on the swing at one point in my existence...

I got what I wanted yesterday. :)

I was swinging high up in the air and just being in general glee like a 5-year-old. I didn't realize that you could actually swing without anyone pushing you. Hey, I was experiencing powerful swings, and major gusts of swinging-induced air that allowed my hair to flap behind me! I was... In bliss. :D

I felt like God was pushing the swing for me, as I listened to rockin' Christian prophetic worship songs. If I knew what flying was like, swinging would most likely be just like flyin'!

So from this point on, I's swearin': Two days off fer meh after grueling seasons of work, and at least once a day of REEEEEST. It says in the Bible that we have SIX days to do our work. I might as well enjoy my Sunday Sabbaths. :D

And you, workaholic human, next Sunday, YOU TAKE A REST TOO!

That's What Friends Are For

2008-11-26T23:05:00.001+08:00

After working grueling and crazy 14 to 16-hour workdays in the weeks past, and not really accomplishing much because of the extreme stress I was experiencing, I finally decided to take a break last Sunday, November 23. Thankfully, great best budz Monalisa and Kitchie were kind enough to give in to my request of a hang-out in UP Diliman and have lunch at Mang Jimmy's, a famed favorite hangout in UP, famous for the amazing Sisig, and other cheap, but great-tasting food.

After going to Mass (it was an educational experience, setting foot in a Catholic Mass once more. :p), we promptly headed on to the Shopping Center in order to get batteries for Lis' camera. Alas, and alack, we were out of luck for the cam (ehem; pardon the rhyme)... BUT... We found...

Inggat!!!

Thanks to Inggat, we were able to find Mang Jimmy's much faster than if we just bumped around on UP's sprawling campus. I fully admit, that had Inggat not been providently placed across our paths, my best friends Lis and Kitch would now be my worst enemies, coz I hadn't gone to Mang Jimmy's on my own before, ever. Especially since Lis was way hungry by then. Heheh. :D

Inggat was a wonderful Tau addition to our all-Grav company of three. With her around, the laughters were more gleeful, and the meal in Mang Jimmy's, buttery pusit and bangus, amazing Sisig and Tapa Mix, were all the more delectable.

Mang Jimmy's is almost like a hole-in-the wall resto. The food, especially the Sisig and Tapa Mix, were more than worth their price tag. And though the seafoods' sauce was much too salty for me, the taste was passable.

If you're looking for a decent restaurant with decent surroundings, don't expect it from Mang Jimmy's. The rugged Carinderia-like environment is part of Mang Jimmy's charm. Though I'm a Sisig Hooray fan forever, if you want a calm meal with friends, family, or a special someone, and Sinful SISIG, Mang Jimmy's is the place to go to. Their Sisig is among the best I've tasted; next to Sisig Hooray, I think Mang Jimmy's ties with Iloilo's Breakthrough's Sisig, in my list. :p

To get there, you have to pass by a side road off of Vinzon's hall, Shuster Street. Go straight, cross the main road of Katipunan, go inside the gated path leading to a park/reservoir, where a Manila Water building greets you, head straight, turn towards the left road from the junction, and there's a Mang Jimmy's sign that indicates that you're there already.

I recalled Shuster street, because I was blabbering on like the Energizer Bunny who had a bad case of talkativeness mixed in with the lethal combination of not having seen another being of its kind in ages, and Lis was telling me to "Shush," and we found "Shuster Street." Heheh. :p Good for y'all who want to get to Mang Jimmy's. At least here are more specific directions now. :p

It's really just a residential place that was converted to a resto.

After the meal filled with laughter, we left Mang Jimmy's giggling about a woman who looked eerily like Michael V. (eek). Then we went to take pictures on UP's grounds, had more laughs, bade goodbye to Inggat, and under compulsion, I went with Lis and Kitch to Megamall. I figured it was time to see my Victory Pioneer fam again anyway. :p

I then spent the afternoon with Lis around a Megamall bazaar, then going to church in Victory Pioneer, and coming home at past midnight coz the pplz were so fun and I missed them much. :p Thanx Ate Sam, Ate Ming, Beda, Mary, Keith and the new guy kabarkadas that I've met that night!

Moral of the story: Don't work too hard, make sure Sundays are enjoyable SABBATHS, and give priority to relationships. Money could only give you so much. In fact, it gives more headache than anything. :p

From that point on, I made a decision to have low-tech Sundays: only my iPod and cellphone are allowed for a few hours (Gawrsh. I need rehab for blogging/the Internets. :p), then I'd just have fun all Sunday long. NO WORK FOR 24 HOURS!!! (Unless "work" means just blogging. :p)

I guess this means one thing. I have to make it a point to touch base with people that I love, on the real-interaction realm, at least once a week. Whether it's just in UP Diliman, or I find myself in Victory Pioneer again, I should make it a priority to keep the relationships in my life alive.

I'm not yet ready to go home to Iloilo, that's for sure, but I'm now making it a point to make sure that my life isn't all about acquiring money. It should be more about enriching my relationships.

I hope I get it right this time.

What If: >>>Extreme Sports for Jesus, Being a Christian Ninja, and Other Stuff Off the Top of my Head<<<

2008-08-01T04:41:00.000+08:00

The great part about having a Christian boss who, by all indications so far, is a true-blue JESUS worshiper, is that she's a lot understanding about my adjustment period. She's allowing me to just sink my teeth into the schedule and stuff for now. I, on the other hand, am seriously wanting a maid already. Only, I couldn't afford a maid, heheh.

Much of my time is consumed washing the dishes coz my landlord hatez the mess I leave. Ohkaay. So I have to deal.

Now, because everything is just going crazy and it seems like I'm losing my love for my First Love, I just decided to take some time out and listen to Mike Bickle of International House of Prayer and his vision for International houses of prayer being set up around the world.

I would love to take part in that.

But then there I started craving for one of Misty Edwards' songs. Misty is a member of IHOP's Prayer Room, and her songs are just rockin' and soul-shaking, like this one:

...And in my search for that particular video to share with you, I came across this one, about kids doing the new extreme sport, "Parkour."

What I learned from my earthly father is that with everything that a person has to do, there has to be purpose. There has to be an end goal for everything we do.

While I admire these kids' power and talent, I can't help thinking that this is so reminiscent of the abilities of the ninjas in the old days.

As Misty is singing, we are on the verge of Christ's return. I bear witness to the fact that there IS something happening in the air. He did say in the Bible that when the Son of Man comes, signs abound. It is like the time of harvest, when the wheat heads are full, and they're drooping from the weight of their fertility.

If you are unaware that so many things are happening and all you see is that you want to live your life with your head in the sand, and that Jesus may well not return, then what-evar. All I know is that electricity is starting to crackle in the air.

But back to these kids doing Parkour. Bear with me as I paint a mental picture. In the areas where God is so needed, there is still so much of a need for physical strength, and in the path of flight, where persecution might happen, don't you think that talents like Parkour would have use?

Imagine. Thousands of Christian "ninja's" taking ground for Jesus in the Middle East, in the Communist countries, in the mountainous and hostile regions where His name has yet to be heard.

Imagine. Your prowess of backdiving and stuff better utilized as you flee from physical enemies in nations where they do not understand that God owns this earth and He is taking ground and He wants to use you?

I sure want to learn Parkour if only the Philippines were not so hostile to new things like these. There were days, when I was on an extended fast, that my feet were so light and quick that I felt like I could do things like these.

I know I will get the chance to play around with my physical strength. For now, I'm letting the gears turn in your head.

What if Jesus needed end-time ninja's to go brave Cuba, South America, or even Japan, North Korea, and the unreached areas of China?

What if?

Are you willing to take the call?

Thankfulness Week

2008-07-18T12:07:00.000+08:00

I wanna start a "Thankfulness Week" for myself.. While other people are going to be heading out to parties later tonight, I will be here, at home, enjoying quiet time with myself, time to work: my most favorite form of play. :)

This "Thankfulness Week" blog will be a weekly thing for me. I want to be thankful to three key People in my life, and one "Wildcard"..

The constants will be my parents and Jesus, and the wildcard will be whomever my heart feels like it, every Friday. :)

I am thankful that the Lord Jesus had:

Saved me from this world since childhood, by giving me the gift of nonconformity.
Given me great parents who had given me the best of what they know; we totally disagree on a lot of points in life, especially the ones that matter most to my Big Boss/Father/Hero, but they have given me the best of what they know, and that is the biggest gift that Jesus has given me.
Given me the gift of excellence, balanced by the gift of "enough is enough," that He only allowed me ENOUGH of certain experiences and learnings to ensure the learnings I need to take for the calling He has for me.
Given me the gift of learning upside down. So now that I know Whom to work for, I know what I need to do. Yay!
Given me the capacity to appreciate life and enjoy the simplest of joys.

I am thankful to my Mother for:

Always praying for me.
The gift of integrity.
The gift of consistency.
The gift of faithfulness.
The gift of making arts and crafts.
The gift of giving attention to detail.
The gift of painful learnings. :)

I am thankful to my Father for:

Always being there to step in when I was about to screw up my life.
The gift of street-wise wisdom: what plants are there, for what, for being able to grow figs at home, the gift of WD-40! Woohoo! Imagine, I couldn't get the denged keys through the keyholes in this ancient house! A drenching and bath of WD-40 sure fixed that!!! In fact, the WD-40 incident just inspired this post!
The strength and strictness to keep me at home. Thank you, Tay. Because of this, I learned to not enjoy gossip too much now, but only after unlearning all the crap of television.
For surrounding me with educational stuff, because of this, my brain has been well-fed. :)
For the painful learnings; because of that, I learned to unlearn. :)

I love my parents, even though I do not agree with them a lot of the time. They may desire the temporary for me, but Jesus has a deep vision for me that I have to walk in, MY WAY. Because unless I walk in it the way Jesus has planned for me, it will never be realized, because I'm sooo denged busy working for the temporary.

Mother, I'm sorry. I have to prioritize what vision Jesus has for me and MY family. Or else, I will be stuck in poverty in the long run. I sacrifice today, so that in the long run, I will be able to fly.

Don't worry, God provides for the right now, if I prioritize the long run. Thanks for helping me out for an entire month. I need to act like an adult now. No more dependency on you. But I have to do this MY WAY. Our violent emotions just get in the way. I don't understand you, neither do you understand me. But at the very least, I get that you need me to be independent. So do I. It's just wrong to be dependent on you, and on others. But do not worry, God provides. Just don't stress the details.

So let's keep some boundaries for today, coz fights and negative emotions really delay both you and me. :)

Wildcard: I'm thankful to Kuya Chin Bon and Kuya Elim. These guys are my most loyal readers, and they encourage me to blog on. :)

Hugz to you guys!

Quick and Easy Meal: Lorie's Adapted Mongolian Bowl

2008-06-03T23:07:00.000+08:00

I know we are all busy, and we would like to learn how to cook healthier meals, even if we're too busy. We really don't want to resort to the instant noodle, or in the Philippines, the instant Pancit Canton (fried noodles) meals. These meals tend to be highly unhealthy, and actually promote obesity. So what do you do, then? Click read more to learn about a quick, but highly healthy recipe for people on the go!

Yesterday, I talked about how we really need to be able to stock up on meals that are not only quick and easy to prepare, but also healthy.

The harassed yuppie normally has little choice but fastfood and instant noodles to choose from when they need a quick bite to eat at night. But thankfully, I need not obese-ify myself on Pancit Canton. I can instead gorge on bananas, oatmeal, as well as meals like these.

And it works! I've thinned down a lot. From a 38-in waistline, I am down to 37 inches on a full belly, and 36 on a meagerly-fed one. I guess I need to walk more, heheh. :p

For those who work at home like me, it would be a great idea for you to keep meal-sized plastic containers lying around. To save time, you could actually prepare the meals on your day off, and just stock them up, ready for reheating.

One kind of meal that I’ve found is rather quick to prepare is patterned after the Mongolian style of cooking, as I’ve taken note from Mongolian restaurants here.

All you need are:

1 cup sprouted mung beans
an onion, diced or chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, diced or chopped
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
oil for sautéing
black pepper and basil to taste

Boil the batch of sprouted beans first, then refrigerate. You can also cook a batch of rice prior to this, and then refrigerate. When you are ready to prepare your quick “Mongolian” meal, do the following:

Sauté the garlic, onion and tomatoes together in a saucepan. Then when some onion or garlic pieces have browned, add in the sprouted mung beans with them. Let the mixture simmer a bit, then add the rice. When the rice has been added, add sugar, soy sauce, pepper and the basil to the mix. Toss as you let it simmer. When you’ve mixed the meal evenly, you can now take it off the fire, and enjoy!

This is already a big enough meal, and my measurements here are rough estimations. I usually just toss everything in a saucepan and enjoy the meal while surfing and thinking about what to write next.

I also set aside the extra portions for later meals, and I do the same with the oatmeal. I find that meals like these take me only about 15 minutes to make, or less. But we have to consider that the rice was already pre-cooked, while the beans had already been boiled.

I boil the beans because the last time I made these I thought I had experienced food poisoning. Just to be on the safe side, you know.

Well, I’m sure you learned a quick way to feed yourself today. Hope you come back next time!

Thank you for the image:

http://www.dessertcomesfirst.com

Food for the Work at Home Gurl

2008-06-02T22:53:00.004+08:00

Well, what a way to resurrect a blog. Again. Heheh. :p

Being a work-at-home girl, I need to be able to grab my meals on-the-fly, because just like you guys, I also lead a pretty busy life.

While you guys get a bi-monthly payment for your services, I am only as good as the efforts I put in, in my work. I need to maximize my time...

...and a lot of the time, I actually do not get paid for my work up front. Like in this blogging thing, it would take a while before my efforts would pay off.

One thing I realized that took too much time off me was preparing meals and cleaning up after. So, instead of spending so much time preparing, I decided to actually make sure that I get meals that I can just grab from the refrigerator and eat as I stare at my monitor, wondering what to do next.

While I could surely make use of sandwiches all the time, it’s just not healthy to gorge on white bread and whatever sweet filling I could think to fill it up, like coco jam or peanut butter. Instead, it would be wiser for a work-at-home girl like me, who gets virtually no exercise (save for walking to and from the train station or to the nearest mall, where my church is also located), to fill up with whole grains and other healthy food.

Of late, I’ve taken to feeding on organic rice, which, because it’s unpolished, is healthier for the intestines and the other parts of the gut. I pair the organic rice with canned tuna in different flavors, and stir-fried vegetables. If I have a craving for something sweet, I stock up on rolled oatmeal, which I flavor with brown sugar and peanut butter, or peanut butter and jelly.

I also experimented boiling this with sliced bananas (the kind used for boiling, “Saging na Saba” in Filipino) and adding peanut butter and jelly. Yuuuuum!

You can skip the jelly, if the sour taste is funny to you.

What’s great about using peanut butter and jelly, and even with boiling the oatmeal with banana, is that you won’t need to use sugar for your oatmeal. It minimizes your sugar consumption, which makes things healthy on several levels. :)

Oatmeal, as we discussed here, is a great, quick-and-easy-to-prepare meal for those on the run. On top of that, the fiber content makes this meal healthy. Oatmeal is endorsed for those with circulatory diseases, which adds to its attractiveness for the health-conscious. When you need a quick bite, reaching for candy bars won't be an option, then, if you have containers of cooked oatmeal lying around in your fridge, ready for you to chomp down on it.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss cooking a Mongolian-style quick meal for work-at-home creatures like moi.

Toodlez!

Thank you for the image:

http://www.fitness.com

Work at Home Girl? Stressed?! You're Kidding Me!

2008-05-26T12:05:00.000+08:00

Isn't it funny how most of us are in the business of wanting more, more, and more. It hit me how I swallow this lie every single day. And it's funnier when a doctor, someone from a conventionally high-powered and equally high-stress job, would be the first to recommend that we rethink our priorities.

I found this article as I was researching for one of the articles I was writing. In the process, I also took a test for stress levels. Even as a work-at-home girl, I had registered a score of 100, and the results advised me to get professional help.

And I'm not even commuting daily.

I have come to the conclusion that the solution is not to work more or to scramble for a regular day job. The solution is to hold my days sacred: whatever task I have for that day, I better wrap up before I sleep.

I also need to minimize external activities. Anything that takes me away from my home would have to be pre-scheduled, prepared for, and I would have to wrap up tasks before I would go out.

Also, I would do better to actually have lesser meals. The dishwashing kills me.

But best of all, I really should just work smarter: efficiently, and more maximally.

I thought I would do great if I worked at night then slept during the day.

Au contraire, what happened was I just wrecked my life.

So I guess this means sleeping at night, then working during the day, and making sure that I've covered all my tasks before I go out.

Sounds like a plan. :p

‘Be’, Not ‘Have’

By Dr Roger Henderson

I am very rarely lost for words. In fact, most people say that is the last thing that would happen to me. I also view myself as unshockable being privileged enough in my job to see people as they really are ensures that - but I remember a particular patient who not only shocked me but reduced me to silence. In doing so he showed me just how destructive ‘need to have’ thinking is on both our stress levels and our mental health.

James came to see me in a state of considerable mental anguish. I had known him for many years, and had watched from the sidelines as he built up a massive business by the age of 40, along with the trappings of success. These unfortunately included a deeply dissatisfied wife and two children who never saw him from one week to the next. When he asked me what he could do to reduce his stress levels I bluntly suggested he should sell up and get out. I was therefore surprised to hear that he had been thinking of doing just that, but couldn’t because his pension fund was not large enough. It was when he told me this fund had ‘only’ four million pounds in it that silence descended on my side of the desk.

The reality was that James could never have a pension fund big enough to satisfy him, and even if he did there would always be bigger and better ventures after that. He was always thinking about what he didn’t have rather than what he had, and so remained deeply dissatisfied.

As expected, my advice fell on deaf ears and James lost his wife and children shortly afterwards, and faced an expensive divorce settlement. He still sees me for advice but freely admits that he is continually moving the goalposts in his life, so that once he has achieved his latest target - bigger bonus, better car, another million - he sets himself a higher one.

Satisfaction can never be achieved if you view life this way. When do we ever have enough? If you list the good points in your life - that you actually have a job in the first place, that your partner does have some redeeming features, that your health is better than some people’s - you will actually end up getting more of what you want. If you can focus on enjoying life at home rather than waiting for two weeks in the year when you go on holiday, you will know how to feel good. If for any reason you don’t get your holiday you will still have enjoyed yourself.

A lesson we all need to be reminded of is that much of what we have in life is good and satisfying as it is. Look at what you have - house, car, work and relationship - and write down exactly why you feel it needs to be improved. Change is good, as long as you are not simply trying to fulfil an endless wish list.

Many of us imagine happiness involves a bigger house or more money and possessions. But all these do is set more targets and stresses for ourselves. Start investing in the truly important things in life - not just the bank balance.

• Dr Roger Henderson is the author of Stress Beaters: 100 Proven Ways To Manage Stress. Buy it online at www.amazon.co.uk or call the order line on 01476 541001.
• You can also visit Dr Henderson’s own website at www.doctorhenderson.co.uk.

NEVER Buy Anything Made By AMERICAN HOME.

2008-03-31T19:16:00.000+08:00

When I first set out on my own here in Makati, I had bought me first, an American Home kettle, then an American Home rice cooker. The kettle had conked out sometime in February, so I had it fixed. The rice cooker died on me when I had boiled water in it (it was too late for the water shop to be open), and then slept while the water was boiling. Yes, it was a good thing that my room did not burn down, but it's not a nice thing when your kettle has been replaced with a "new" one, and still, it... Leaked within a few days of use. I had claimed it on Thursday, the 27th of March, 2008, and it leaked again today, the 31st of March.

How cute.

So yeah, NEVER buy anything by the brand AMERICAN HOME. You'll just have a huge headache with the item.

Buti pa yung Marubishi ko na electric fan. Kahit maingay at nakakainis linisin, buhay pa rin hanggang ngayon. :p

Brands are so deceptive. I think I shall revert to Tatay's age-old lesson: buy a brand for quality and durability. Geesh. There are days when pagtitipid does not apply.

But in fairness to American Home, I had purchased the original kettle in either October or November, and the rice cooker in December. But still! The National rice cooker we had at home lasted us since 1993! It's still alive!

I guess I fell for the rice cooker's cuteness. Grr. But it was my fault for the most part, anyway.

What I HATE, HATE, HATE, is the tooooooooopid kettle.

It's so sleek kasi. I wish Asahi had released its kettles even then. Grrr!

I wonder if it's worth it to bring the item back to American Home again.

I am really really irritated.

I wanted hot Milo, and now I have to boil water in my cooker! Wut the!

Okay, enough ranting. I'm just warning y'all would-be independent people. No American Home products for you, else you risk wanting to march to the company and shake their products to their faces. Grrrrrrrr!

Adobong Sitaw

2007-12-30T08:00:00.000+08:00

Ingredients:

1 bunch/sheaf string beans, Php 10 or $0.24
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pancake syrup
2 tbsps sugar dissolved in half a cup of water
1 clove garlic
a generous sprinkling of black pepper (must not forget this!)

Slice the garlic while you heat the oil in the pan, or before you start heating the oil. If you want to save more time, you can actually do both simultaneously.

When the pan starts to smoke, drop the garlic and let it brown.

While the garlic is cooking, mix the soy sauce with the pancake syrup, sugar, and the pepper. While I had done everything so haphazardly in this video, I realized that it was hard mixing everything in such a shallow pan. So I think it would be best if you mixed all the ingredients of the sauce, before adding it to the string beans.

When the garlic is already brown enough for your taste, add the string beans to frying garlic.

Pour in the soy sauce mix. Let simmer, until the string beens look like they've soaked well enough in the sauce.

Serve and enjoy!

(You can also do the same thing for Kangkong. :D)

Appliances a DormRat Shouldn't Live Without!

2007-12-12T12:25:00.001+08:00

Hey guys! Sorry I wasn’t able to update yesterday.. I was just soo exhausted. So I’ll just back-post yesterday’s food recipe. :)

So today I’m giving you a list of the appliance and food essentials that you have to have, as a person who lives independently, away from Mommy and Daddy, or in my case, Nanay and Tatay.

I had mentioned that an Asian person absolutely needs a rice cooker. In my country, meals are not complete without rice. We have rice and, like in the previous post, an entreé dish. As in my video, you can also use that rice cooker to steam yer pantz.

A rice cooker set in my country usually comes with a steaming apparatus (pictures after the article), a spoon thingie, aside from the heating component, which is the body of the rice cooker itself, and the pot where you place your rice and the water. Pardon me, coz I don’t know what they’re called, actually.

The steamer can be used for heating cold pizza, burgers, siopao (Those steamed buns with meat filling? What are they called?) and even frozen meats, if you have friends who give you their leftover roast stuff. Yesterday, our dorm's super/caretaker was steaming a dormmate's lechon meal. Lechon is roast pork. You can also cook leche flan/custard on the steamer. I tell you, the possibilities are endless!

..But if you’re just absolutely starting, with only so much to spare, I believe you can do with an electric fan and a water heater. A water heater is essential for coffee, and for us here in the Philippines, instant noodles, yum. We also have instant pancit canton, which is an adaptation of the Chinese stir-fried Canton noodles. One can usually prepare that in under 10 minutes. Just heat some water, place the noodles in a heat-resistant bowl like the one in the veggie dish picture, cover, and allow to soften for around 3-5 minutes. Contrary to popular belief, that process actually cooks the noodles already, so there’s no need to fear indigestion.

You can also do the same for soupy noodles.

When you can afford it already, however, don’t ever live without:

stove
refrigerator
rice cooker, as mentioned
water heater
electric fan
clothes iron
your choice of entertainment appliances: DVD player/TV/radio or any music/audio player

And if you have cash to spare, a multi-cooker would be nice. You can grill, stir-fry, cook rice, and steam, and think up lots of other innovative ways to prepare your food on there. If you have more cash to spare, an oven toaster would prove handy for your minor baking needs. I just don’t advice getting a microwave oven, because I don’t like how it doesn’t heat food uniformly and because of the possible health risks it poses.

My friend also bought (or was she just planning to buy?) a slow cooker. She says it would be nice to cook meats and things that need cooking on there, so that food would be cooking or heating as she sleeps or while she’s still at work. Personally, I don’t like the thought of leaving anything electric on in my room when I go out, because I’m too paranoid about fires.

Neither do I recommend an LPG (liquid petroleum gas) stove because I have heard stories of these things blowing up. In fact, in my country, a family of 6(?) children (plus parents on top of that) had experienced second-degree burns when an LPG tank blew up due to a leak. The father tried to stop the gas tank from blowing up, but of course, the things are high-pressure objects. No stopping one when it decides to explode.

I hope this gives you an idea of what you need to buy for yourself. I’m putting up my personal checklist in another post.

Till then, ciao! ;)

Quick Veggies (in oyster sauce and pancake syrup)

2007-12-11T13:25:00.000+08:00

1 packet of sliced pakbet veggies (squash, winged beans, okra, sitaw/string beans?, eggplant slices)
1/2 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup pancake syrup
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon oil, preferably olive, soybean, canola, or coconut oil (anything has a higher monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat level will do)
salt, seasoning mix, red and black pepper to taste

Mince the garlic into 1-mm pieces as you heat the oil in a saucepan. When the oil has started to smoke a little, lower the heat, and add the garlic into the oil. When the garlic has sufficiently browned, add the vegetables. Sauteé the veggies until the bean slices soften. Then add the seasoning mix, or the salt. Mix a bit, then add the oyster sauce. Mix again, then add the pancake syrup. Add the red and black pepper, cover, allow to simmer a bit, then turn the heat off.

Serve and enjoy. :)

Prep Time: I don’t think it reached 15 minutes. :p

If you want it with more color, turn the heat off after you’ve mixed everything. This turned out to be this dark because I kept the heat on, and I wanted it to appear darker, like my mom’s cooking. I gave some to my dorm’s super and she downed it in MINUTES. :p

Happy cooking!

A New Way to Use Your Rice Cooker!

2007-12-10T13:30:00.000+08:00

There are other ways to use your rice cooker. And THIS is just one of my crazy ideas. :p

My Revver Playlist

2007-12-10T10:35:00.000+08:00

Just so you'll have a way to stalk my Revver playlist, I'm posting it on here. :)

Click here to see my latest crazy dorm and urban living lifehackz. :p

Urban Living 101

2007-12-09T12:29:00.000+08:00

When young people leave their parents' homes, it's no easy matter. There are a hundred and one considerations to take: the rent, the bills, the food..

I am by no means on top of the situation just yet. Actually, I made this blog so that I will be able to gather more money.

I seriously need more of those, but while I'm at it, I might as well save some of those pennies by creating means to cut living costs.

As Revver is still processing my video and I have to leave for a church event in a bit, I'd like to direct you to my blog-city account, just for amusement purposes:

http://loriethereselocara.blog-city.com

Edit: The Revver video is now up! Yay!

Tune in for more tips and tricks, aight? Ciao!

Catch y'all later!