Here I am, hanging by a thread after just eleven days sans Melin. I'm not ashamed to admit that I can't be a Supermom. At least, not the eighties kind that tries to "do it all," and without help. Not with the job I have. Thing is, I don't think I'd ever want to be. Maybe if I worked at a bookstore, selling books, maybe then I could do it. But even then, I wouldn't want to.
Finally, am on leave. Took the Floy Quintosians to the zoo, and enjoyed myself despite a number of interruptions from work. But first, I had to bring Kboomboom to the ear doctor to get her meds. We saw all the animals, and even got to feed the baboons! A nice three hour walk around the entire perimeter. The Zoo is lovely on a week day. And that lake is simply stunning. Now packing for Bohol.
Whoohoohoo...
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Day 9
Discover yet again... when I'm up against the wall, and my family wails for food, I can cook. And I'm not half bad, if I do say so myself. Sick of takeout and equally sick of going out, the husband and the children said, "Let's eat in, please..."
So I made what I have hastily christened Picnic Penne
Ingredients
garlic
onion
basil
1/2 pack of penne
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can mushrooms
2 pieces of cooked ham, chopped into bits
1 can of anchovies
1 cup red wine
Lots of grated Parmegiano Regiano
1) Set the penne to boil in water with a pinch of rock salt
2) Saute minced garlic and chopped onion in olive oil. Add in ham and brown. Add in mushrooms, basil and anchovy (drained of oil). Let all of this sweat together.
3) Drain can of stewed tomatoes and chop them up
4) Before penne is done, take it off the flame and drain in colander. Penne will seem on the underdone side, but that's intentional.
5) Mix in the stewed tomatoes and about 2/3 cup red wine
6) Season sauce with salt and pepper.
7) When penne is fully drained, dump into the sauce pan and toss under light flame.
8) Serve in pasta bowls topped with grated cheese
This is a dryer kind of pasta than is conventional, which makes it nice for packing for lunch. There's a rich flavour to it thanks to the anchovy, tomatoes and red wine.
And it takes hardly any time at all. Just chop and mix as you go along and don't rush. Every stage benefits from time in the pan...
So I made what I have hastily christened Picnic Penne
Ingredients
garlic
onion
basil
1/2 pack of penne
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can mushrooms
2 pieces of cooked ham, chopped into bits
1 can of anchovies
1 cup red wine
Lots of grated Parmegiano Regiano
1) Set the penne to boil in water with a pinch of rock salt
2) Saute minced garlic and chopped onion in olive oil. Add in ham and brown. Add in mushrooms, basil and anchovy (drained of oil). Let all of this sweat together.
3) Drain can of stewed tomatoes and chop them up
4) Before penne is done, take it off the flame and drain in colander. Penne will seem on the underdone side, but that's intentional.
5) Mix in the stewed tomatoes and about 2/3 cup red wine
6) Season sauce with salt and pepper.
7) When penne is fully drained, dump into the sauce pan and toss under light flame.
8) Serve in pasta bowls topped with grated cheese
This is a dryer kind of pasta than is conventional, which makes it nice for packing for lunch. There's a rich flavour to it thanks to the anchovy, tomatoes and red wine.
And it takes hardly any time at all. Just chop and mix as you go along and don't rush. Every stage benefits from time in the pan...
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Sondheim's Wisdom
"Marry me a little.
Love me just enough.
Cry but not too often.
Play but not too rough.
Keep a tender distance, so we'll both be free.
That's the way it ought to be.
Marry me a little. Do it with a will.
Make a few demands I'm able to fulfill.
Want me first and foremost, not exclusively.
That's the way it ought to be.
You can be my best friend. I can be your right arm.
We'll go through a fight or two, no harm. No harm."
(Marry Me A Little - COMPANY
Then again, there's:
"Men are stupid. Men are vain.
Love's disgusting,love's insane. A humiliating business.
Oh how true..."
Every Day A Little Death from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
Love me just enough.
Cry but not too often.
Play but not too rough.
Keep a tender distance, so we'll both be free.
That's the way it ought to be.
Marry me a little. Do it with a will.
Make a few demands I'm able to fulfill.
Want me first and foremost, not exclusively.
That's the way it ought to be.
You can be my best friend. I can be your right arm.
We'll go through a fight or two, no harm. No harm."
(Marry Me A Little - COMPANY
Then again, there's:
"Men are stupid. Men are vain.
Love's disgusting,love's insane. A humiliating business.
Oh how true..."
Every Day A Little Death from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Day 2
Yesterday making breakfast of toasted English muffins, butter, jam and cheese caused us to be late for badminton. The last training session before Celeste and her kids leave next week. Sad sad sad. The only way to keep from getting all sniffy and sobby is to just plain pretend she isn't leaving, which has, of course, its own difficulties.
Then we dropped K off at her party and took C to dimsum lunch, at first against his will, until he tasted the luscious soup-filled pork dumplings. A bit of window shopping, it's sale season in Singapore, and then back to fetch K then home. Nap was disrupted first by K then by a tantrum C-style. And lickety split it was time for choir mass. A wondrous moment in Kiko's Prayer Of St. Ignatius. What a difference a conductor makes is all I can say, plus Kiko is such a gifted one. He makes you want to please him. And then Celeste's valedictory prayer. What will we do without her...
Went to dinner at Pepper Lunch with kids, Celeste and Yayo. Realising Dennis' absence yet again and a gathering with the two families isn't going to be happening again anytime soon. Borders then home for a major temper tantrum from K who didn't want C to sleep in her room. Finally got them both peacefully in bed.
Day 2, we get up exactly at 9am, meaning we miss soccer. C'est la vie. Veto going out for breakfast and instead whip up some cheese quesadillas and make good use of four squishy bananas for a peanut butter banana roll-up dessert. Today it's another goodbye lunch and then a Zafra party. Once the kids are asleep, have to do three advertorials if I'm to stay ahead of the game. That and then get up before it's even light out for the kids...
Ten days to go without Melin.
Then we dropped K off at her party and took C to dimsum lunch, at first against his will, until he tasted the luscious soup-filled pork dumplings. A bit of window shopping, it's sale season in Singapore, and then back to fetch K then home. Nap was disrupted first by K then by a tantrum C-style. And lickety split it was time for choir mass. A wondrous moment in Kiko's Prayer Of St. Ignatius. What a difference a conductor makes is all I can say, plus Kiko is such a gifted one. He makes you want to please him. And then Celeste's valedictory prayer. What will we do without her...
Went to dinner at Pepper Lunch with kids, Celeste and Yayo. Realising Dennis' absence yet again and a gathering with the two families isn't going to be happening again anytime soon. Borders then home for a major temper tantrum from K who didn't want C to sleep in her room. Finally got them both peacefully in bed.
Day 2, we get up exactly at 9am, meaning we miss soccer. C'est la vie. Veto going out for breakfast and instead whip up some cheese quesadillas and make good use of four squishy bananas for a peanut butter banana roll-up dessert. Today it's another goodbye lunch and then a Zafra party. Once the kids are asleep, have to do three advertorials if I'm to stay ahead of the game. That and then get up before it's even light out for the kids...
Ten days to go without Melin.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Midlife Crisis
Five years ago, I had an epiphany about people who have gone through the Maria Montessori educational system and are now adults, which become a kind of personal life thesis. I believe that this educational philosophy, which prioritises the individual, the scientific method and learning for learning's sake, creates people with entreprenuerial zeal, unlimited creativity, and an almost renegade attitude toward formal authority.
I look at most of my former classmates and hardly anyone is working for a large company as an employee. There's a smattering of architects, doctors and lawyers, for sure. There are educators and there are entreprenuers, and lots and lots of artists - freelance writers, designers, directors, musicians, producers - what the media refers to as the creative class. They, or I should say, we, are happy to call our time our own. We are happy to make time in our lives to make money, but not have that be the end all or be all. I attribute my wandering eye, my restless, antsy feet and my penchant for scouring the classifieds to this background. Or maybe it's just an excuse for sheer boredom. The inability to focus and concentrate? Or is it...the conviction that there is something else out there better than this. The constant needling, nagging doubt that all that I am able to do is not necessarily what I am meant to do? And here we are again...
Non-sequitur: puttering in the evenings to the noise of the third season of Ally McBeal. It's also very clearly the season where it all went to the most inane pot imaginable.
I look at most of my former classmates and hardly anyone is working for a large company as an employee. There's a smattering of architects, doctors and lawyers, for sure. There are educators and there are entreprenuers, and lots and lots of artists - freelance writers, designers, directors, musicians, producers - what the media refers to as the creative class. They, or I should say, we, are happy to call our time our own. We are happy to make time in our lives to make money, but not have that be the end all or be all. I attribute my wandering eye, my restless, antsy feet and my penchant for scouring the classifieds to this background. Or maybe it's just an excuse for sheer boredom. The inability to focus and concentrate? Or is it...the conviction that there is something else out there better than this. The constant needling, nagging doubt that all that I am able to do is not necessarily what I am meant to do? And here we are again...
Non-sequitur: puttering in the evenings to the noise of the third season of Ally McBeal. It's also very clearly the season where it all went to the most inane pot imaginable.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Stuff Of My Dreams
And when I say this, I'm referring to what my dreams have been about these past three days, as opposed to goals, ambitions or fantasies.
- I dreamt I was vacuuming my bed with one of those mini-dustbusters and I could make out millions of tiny little microscopic creatures running away from the vacuum nozzle.
- I dreamt of the joyous pain of zits being injected by good old Dr. Romero.
- I dreamt of not just one but a series of haunted houses.
T says houses in dreams are symbols for health. And the two other dreams are also health related, so he chalks everything up as my subconscious' overall concern for my health. Feel like he is not too far off the mark.
Tomorrow...yoga again. This evening, going for a run, if I can manage it.
- I dreamt I was vacuuming my bed with one of those mini-dustbusters and I could make out millions of tiny little microscopic creatures running away from the vacuum nozzle.
- I dreamt of the joyous pain of zits being injected by good old Dr. Romero.
- I dreamt of not just one but a series of haunted houses.
T says houses in dreams are symbols for health. And the two other dreams are also health related, so he chalks everything up as my subconscious' overall concern for my health. Feel like he is not too far off the mark.
Tomorrow...yoga again. This evening, going for a run, if I can manage it.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Sunday On Our Own
Why does the weekend fly by so quickly, almost as though it has wings of its own?
The good news was we closed the nightmare project within an hair's length past its deadline, at a approximately 5:15pm Friday. The production manager and I hugged each other with relief. The bad news? There's another one right behind it with the same client scheduled for July. I flat out refuse to do it, because there's just no time to get it done right.
I ran off to pick up Tanny and see MI3 with Timi and the Floros. It was great. Fun to watch, great pacing, a wonderful villain and lots of eye candy, now that Cruise is a bit on the blah side - Jonathan Rhys Meier and Maggie Q. Despite having no badminton, it was jampacked Saturday - a lot of it had to do with catechism, choir practice and Monique Wilson's Aspects Of Love, which, while well-performed (Wilson still has her Saigon pipes), is a rather strange, curiously empty piece of theatre. Sitting and trying to dissect it with T, I came upon a wierd coincidence. Not that there's any way to prove it, but my feeling is that Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted to do a small intimate exploration of love and sexual mores ala Sondheim. The coincidence is that all the characters have counterparts in Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Now isn't that odd? Except that Sondheim's piece is a lovely, witty triumph that actually says something about human relationships. ALW's Aspects just went through the motions to no legitimate or substantial conclusion. At least we discovered Phin's Steaks on Liang Seah Street. Another brilliant discovery. Now at least we know of a place to eat after a theatrical performance - last call for the kitchen is at 4am!
Sunday morning, Tanny left for Hong Kong, and I took the kids to soccer. Ended up
chatting with batch mate Munding...mostly about those old college days. Celeste didn't make it; she just couldn't get up. Coby got tackled by a team mate and ended up with gash on his knee. It must have hurt because he actually cried. Coach Matt exclaimed in genuine shock, "Wait a minute!?! I've never seen you cry before!!??!!"
Then it was off to Great World to lunch with the Solivens and swim and play in the kiddie land of their serviced apartments. By the time it all started to slow down at 4, I knew I would be too bushed to keep my movie date with her the same night.
So it was just me and the kids and Melin's picadillo and fried fish. A TV-Brush teeth tantrum ensued and a major fight between me and my son transpired. Huge. My daughter just shrugged and went to bed. It took about a half an hour to sort out through tearful apologies and promises to be better.
May wind down with Frasier...and collapse into bed. Will try to catch yoga this week as last week was so pathetic. At least, it's just a four day week. And Cam is in town...
The good news was we closed the nightmare project within an hair's length past its deadline, at a approximately 5:15pm Friday. The production manager and I hugged each other with relief. The bad news? There's another one right behind it with the same client scheduled for July. I flat out refuse to do it, because there's just no time to get it done right.
I ran off to pick up Tanny and see MI3 with Timi and the Floros. It was great. Fun to watch, great pacing, a wonderful villain and lots of eye candy, now that Cruise is a bit on the blah side - Jonathan Rhys Meier and Maggie Q. Despite having no badminton, it was jampacked Saturday - a lot of it had to do with catechism, choir practice and Monique Wilson's Aspects Of Love, which, while well-performed (Wilson still has her Saigon pipes), is a rather strange, curiously empty piece of theatre. Sitting and trying to dissect it with T, I came upon a wierd coincidence. Not that there's any way to prove it, but my feeling is that Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted to do a small intimate exploration of love and sexual mores ala Sondheim. The coincidence is that all the characters have counterparts in Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Now isn't that odd? Except that Sondheim's piece is a lovely, witty triumph that actually says something about human relationships. ALW's Aspects just went through the motions to no legitimate or substantial conclusion. At least we discovered Phin's Steaks on Liang Seah Street. Another brilliant discovery. Now at least we know of a place to eat after a theatrical performance - last call for the kitchen is at 4am!
Sunday morning, Tanny left for Hong Kong, and I took the kids to soccer. Ended up
chatting with batch mate Munding...mostly about those old college days. Celeste didn't make it; she just couldn't get up. Coby got tackled by a team mate and ended up with gash on his knee. It must have hurt because he actually cried. Coach Matt exclaimed in genuine shock, "Wait a minute!?! I've never seen you cry before!!??!!"
Then it was off to Great World to lunch with the Solivens and swim and play in the kiddie land of their serviced apartments. By the time it all started to slow down at 4, I knew I would be too bushed to keep my movie date with her the same night.
So it was just me and the kids and Melin's picadillo and fried fish. A TV-Brush teeth tantrum ensued and a major fight between me and my son transpired. Huge. My daughter just shrugged and went to bed. It took about a half an hour to sort out through tearful apologies and promises to be better.
May wind down with Frasier...and collapse into bed. Will try to catch yoga this week as last week was so pathetic. At least, it's just a four day week. And Cam is in town...
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Playing Tourist
Just when we'd started to think that we had fallen into a rut with our Singapore routine, T gets the brilliant notion to play tourist over the labour day weekend. We hied ourselves over to Faber Park to survey the city at sunset and ride the cable cars to Sentosa and back. The sky high, hilltop Altivo bar looks like a nice place for a tipple, but with the kids in tow, we thought, next time. There's also a rather lovely koi pond. I screwed up my courage and denied my fear of heights to show an example for Kaylee mostly. But it did not stop my hands from sweating nor my heart leaping up to my throat each time Coby stood or leaned to one side. It was nice to see the cruise ship taking off for Phuket, and to know that someone we knew was actually on it. More on the mayor of Valencia, Negros later. Lots of picture taking and lots of exclamations from the kids. After that, we drove to Holland Village for Cha cha cha Mexican food dinner and Haagen Daz.
Monday was even more ambitious. T pushed us all out the door to go to an island. Shame on us, none of us wanted to go really, but we ended up being glad he succeeded in dragging us against our will. We drove to the end of the island, specifically: Changi Village and caught a bumboat for 2$ a piece to the small olden day Pulau Ubin. Just a ten minute ride, across the straits. We landed on the island and immediately, Kaylee pointed out the old-style housees on stilts that she had learned about in Social Studies. We rented two tandem-style bikes, and with one kid each, cycled along the trails to the beach, discovering that both Kaylee and Coby have very powerful legs. The kids raved about the great fun they had and T looked completely satisfied. Coby even apologised to his father for making such a fuss. We ended up having Mickeedees on East Coast Park and then home for a swim. Kaylee and I skipped the swim and watched Little House On The Prairie instead.
A wonderful time was had by all. Pictures to come.
Monday was even more ambitious. T pushed us all out the door to go to an island. Shame on us, none of us wanted to go really, but we ended up being glad he succeeded in dragging us against our will. We drove to the end of the island, specifically: Changi Village and caught a bumboat for 2$ a piece to the small olden day Pulau Ubin. Just a ten minute ride, across the straits. We landed on the island and immediately, Kaylee pointed out the old-style housees on stilts that she had learned about in Social Studies. We rented two tandem-style bikes, and with one kid each, cycled along the trails to the beach, discovering that both Kaylee and Coby have very powerful legs. The kids raved about the great fun they had and T looked completely satisfied. Coby even apologised to his father for making such a fuss. We ended up having Mickeedees on East Coast Park and then home for a swim. Kaylee and I skipped the swim and watched Little House On The Prairie instead.
A wonderful time was had by all. Pictures to come.
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Kids on break
So what are you going to do about it?
Reminder: Buy fruit
Likewise, Quintosians rule
on with family business
FLASHBACK MANILA
Isang Sandali
Sisterhood rules
Here's to being the best we can be!
Apparently, this is me. Now which card are you?
You are The Wheel of Fortune
Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of intoxication with success
The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.