a chance encounter? perhaps not

The other night I had this intense craving for Mexicali food. There was food at home but I didn't want any of it; I hungered for something specific. The Hubby hinted on taking me out for dinner, but I felt too tired to go anywhere so we called delivery.

We were informed it would take an hour and a half before we would get our food. It was already past 8pm so that meant the meal would arrive at almost 10. I nearly changed my mind and thought about boiling an egg for dinner, but I decided to wait it out.

Hungry, tired and near-sleepy a few minutes to 10pm, the delivery guy finally rang our doorbell. My mouth began to water at the thought of sopa de lima, ortilla chips, burito, quesadilla. The Hubby went to fetch the food and came back with our order, with a free pleasant surprise.

It just so happened that the delivery boy was someone we knew - he was a kid in the youth group the Hubby and I used to handle some time ago - he isn't a kid anymore of course. I was just recently thinking about him and wondering where he was now, and voila, he shows up at our doorstep, literally. He and the Hubby had a short chat, he said he and his grandma are doing okay; he hasn't been to church in a while but he'll drop by soon. I would've asked him to come in and hang out, but I'm pretty sure that's against company policy.

Of all the odd situations, right?

Of all the possible delivery boys of all the possible restos.

We wouldn't have had the encounter if I didn't have that strong hankering for a specific kind of food at that specific time, and if I agreed to eat out instead, or if I had been too impatient and had just settled for eating a boiled egg. It's easy to believe God orchestrated this somehow - especially now that the Hubby and I have been picking up a few "stray sheep"; the guy might possibly need a flock of sorts right now.

I was thinking maybe we should order from Mexicali again tonight. Maybe I can search for him on Facebook, ask about his shift and request him to deliver our food again? Or maybe we could just cut all the side-routes and go straight to scheduling another "encounter" during his free time? The sure part is that he's back in our lives somehow.

two happy thawts in the same minute

My dad came home yesterday and provided me with two happy thawts within the same minute:


(1) My dad has just been promoted.

I think that's really cool, considering his age. I'm just a bit worried about his blood pressure and stress levels, but he assures us that there will be less stress in this job because he will have a lot of people working for him. Besides that, he gets to do less but will be paid more.


(2) He came home with something for me, from my ninong

The last time I saw my ninong was on my wedding day almost nine years ago, and the last time before that I was still a kid. Well, yesterday he handed his camera to my dad and said to give it to me, and now its mine. :) It's not a DSLR or anything, but it's a 12-megapixel idiot-friendly point-and-shoot. In a lot of ways it's more convenient than always having to borrow my sister's bulky 8-megapixel semi-DSLR.

Papa says my ninong must have been feeling guilty for not being around all these years, but I don't really mind. I don't mind either that he gives me a second-hand camera; I'm happy that he thought of me, and that I have a convenient "new" cam.

when life gives you lemons ...

I am feeling hunk-dory, peachy keen, fine and dandy, and I have this sense that something hugely good is on its way. I can't say everything is perfect right now, but let's just say I am hopeful, am looking forward to better things and I am taking advantage of this high.

Just recently, the Hubby and I have been gossiped about, betrayed, misled, lied to, rejected, accused and treated unfairly - by people we trusted (past tense) nonetheless. And a big change was forced on our lives against our will, and we're expected to just take it. But then how does that saying go about what to do when life gives you lemons? Well, I say, don't just make lemonade - make margaritas and par-tay!

Uh, yeah, But I don't drink (I haven't for more than a decade now :p ). But you get the point. ;)

Besides, if things won't work for you, you can always find a way to work around them. ;) And I guess that's what I'm doing.

I know I have every reason to be glum and bummed right now, but I'm really not. I guess it's because I can see the big picture: the initially bad things are eventually good things. I can see them now ... and it's all good.

These past few days I recalled a few Bible stories with principles that speak directly to our predicament. I flipped open to those particular parts and it just felt so great to know that aside from the fact that we are in God's hands, we have His approval. It may not be mainstream opinion, but I've checked my Bible and it says it can happen.

Anyway, the Hubby and I decided to juice our lemons by looking at options that may not have been available to us before. And that's kinda exciting for me.

The best part of it is that we get more time to spend with each other. We've been able to spend a bit more time with family too, now that he doesn't have to work on Sundays. We're even planning to go catch up with old friends and maybe make some new ones.

So hope is the honey for the lemon juice. And since I've got a lot of hope, life is sweet, mes chers.

happy accidental baked chicken

I was very hungry and wanted to eat something good and satisfying without having to go out and spend. I checked our understocked kitchen to see if anything was available for me to be able to concoct a good meal.

... a few slabs of chicken breast ... no vegetables whatsoever except potatoes ... a jug of soy sauce, a few ounces of vinegar, a bit of olive oil ... leftover homemade pineapple syrup ... a whole lot of spices and dried herbs ...

So once again i challenged my creativity; the goal was to make a yummy, semi-impressive dinner for the Hubby and myself and whoever else wanted to eat with us. I'm glad to say that the objective was accomplished. My only regret is that I didn't take note of how I made it, so I may not be able to make it again.

In an attempt to maybe sort of preserve the recipe because I might want to cook it again, I'm retracing my steps.

So I combined soy sauce, a drizzling of vinegar (I wanted to use calamansi juice but I was too lazy to cut and squeeze and strain), crushed garlic, a bit of curry powder, a bit of ginger, pepper and a few tbsps of cinnamon in a pan for marinade. I did not bother to measure nor take note. I was thinking of throwing some pineapple juice in but later decided I wanted to drink it instead (Oh well, maybe next time). I planned to put in some fresh rosemary from the garden but forgot to. I let the chicken breast soak for twenty to thirty.

I preheated the oven for - I don't know, I really wasn't paying attention. While that was happening, I massaged the chicken breast in the marinade because It seemed fun.

I found me a right-sized baking pan. I poured some of the marinade into the pan, just enough to cover the bottom. I sat the chicken breasts on it, and rubbed them with black pepper and dried basil. They looked yummy already. I put some potatoes and an apple onto the pan to bake with the chicken.

I put the pan in the oven, put the heat on max and waited. I passed the time drawing in my sketchbook. I enjoyed my baking so much that I forgot that something was baking in the oven. Good thing the Hubby decided to check. It must have been ready in fifteen to twenty.

I poked the potatoes to see if they were cooked. They were still a bit hard so I decided the whole pan should go back in for a few more minutes.

In the meantime, I decided to make some topping-sauce. I minced two small red bell peppers freshly picked from our garden. I let them boil in around a fourth of a cup of water. I added some of the marinade and the leftover pineapple syrup, brought it to a boil.

While the rice was cooking, I put in a handful of dried lemon basil into the water. This gave the rice a fresh, herby flavor. After i scooped it out of the rice cooker, i drizzled a small amount of olive oil.

I served the chicken breasts side-by-side on a rectangular plate, their surfaces spattered with the pepper-and-pineapple sauce . I put the baked potatoes and apple (now sliced) on the side. I did not think of taking a picture because i didn't think it would turn out that good.

The nameless, amazingly good, happy accidental baked chicken was a delightful surprise - kept the Hubby and me remarking how good it was. I'm hoping I can duplicate the flavor some other time, or perhaps make a better version of it. Maybe next time I'll put that pineapple juice into the marinade.

tragedy and the best in everybody

Whenever news about the Philippines reaches international headlines, it's often about something negative - the president's extravagant New York dinner, a war in Mindanao, a volcano acting up in Bicol, a flash flood in some province.

Friends in other countries would ask their how are yous when they hear news of some gunfight or natural disaster. I often have to explain to them that I live in the city, where it's safe, far from where most of those things happen. Since last week though, I've begun to rethink my common answer. Typhoon Ondoy (a.k.a. Ketsana) delivered six months' worth of rainfall to the National Capital Region within two days, rendering a national catastrophe. It's the worst flooding in the city ever. Murky, garbage-tainted flood waters came up to two storeys high in many areas, leaving even the wealthiest residents to escape to their roofs and submit to the wind and rain. Some were stranded for days.










We're all used to seeing squatters and provincianos suffering or losing their homes; but this time it's quite alarming because we see well-to-do people stranded on the roofs of their posh mansions with nothing but the clothes on their backs (Embedded on a lot of people's minds is the image of that model/actress trapped on the roof, drenched, crying and desperate [and even the actor who, all cavalier, came to her rescue with a speedboat] ).

Everybody is either a victim or close to someone who is. The urban poor, who have been used to demanding the "rich" for their right to be given a more comfortable life, have suddenly realized that we are all just human beings after all. Since almost everyone suffered in the same way, no one is complaining.

Despite the tragedy, Filipinos still manage to find something to smile about: joking about their lost possessions, posing in front of a passing news camera, betting on the "swimmers" in flooded underpass-turned-watersports complex. The tears are still there of course; the reality of loss and death is too real to ignore. It's just that Filipinos are so used to hardship, we're good at being survivors. Over and over people display their resilience.

What is most admirable is the spirit of community and genuine care going on. Nobodies helping out nobodies - people getting on their phones and Twitters to pass on information about victims they don't know needing rescue. Young men setting off on their jetskis and surfboards (others choosing to swim the muddy waters) to save random strangers. Plain citizens dropping off packs of food and bottles of water. In fact, all those plain citizens put to shame most government officials and organizations their in promptness to respond and effectiveness to reach. Ondoy brought out the best in everybody.

Everyday hero stories are everywhere, it's overwhelming.
The one about the 18-year old boy who rescued around 30 of his neighbors - the last of which were a girl and her baby - by bravely swimming them across the raging flood at the height of the storm, and then losing his life in the process.
The dutiful security guard at a QC hospital who dove into the dark torrents to save a lady doctor who was stuck on the roof of her car.
The city jail inmates - the nation's "worst"- who shelled out money from their own pockets to raise a significant amount to give to the relief fund for the society that condemned them.
The families who opened their homes as evacuation centers for neighbors, even for random strangers.
The man who took his jetski and evacuated squatters who were marooned on their roofs.
The TV host who used her massive influence to get equally massive donations and assistance.
The various churches and private organizations who immediately organized operations for repacking, cooking and delivering relief goods.

It's just incredible.

Anyone who has ever criticized the Filipino for not loving his country should see what's going on now.

This is the sort of good news that should be making it to international headlines.

the cilantro sprigs that made me smile

I needed some cilantro the other day so I bought me some from the grocery's chilled section. It was just a bunch of short sprigs, the kind that still looked fresh-picked because of the bit of soil that clung to whatever was left of the roots.

When I was about to chop up the cilantro, my dad asked for the root parts. He wanted to plant them, and see if they'd live. I didn't think they would, considering that only some root fragments were left, which have probably been refrigerated for hours if not days. But he went ahead and stuck them in some soil. He reasoned that he just wanted to see what if - if they died, there's no loss because we would have been throwing the roots away anyway. If they lived, that'd mean new cilantro.

To our surprise the leftover bits of cilantro stretched outward after they've been in the soil for less than 24 hours. They looked even greener and healthier. I'm not sure that means they'll live for good, but seeing them alive is still a good smile-maker.


Survivors, aren't they?

We actually already have an herb garden outside our dwelling - oregano, lots of basil, fennel, some grasslike thing I don't recognize that tastes like onion - but I don't think we've ever had any cilantro. I'm excited at the idea of not having to go to the grocery for cilantro anymore. I hope these guys survive and thrive.

cellphone detox

It's been almost four months since my cellphone conked out. That SE w880 that I loved so much. I brought it to a Sony-Ericsson center to have it repaired, but they said they had to look further into its "possible hardware problem" (that's service jargon for "We don't know what's wrong with it") and it may take a while. Well, it took a while. It's still taking.

The first couple of weeks without it were the toughest - I felt disabled without my pet phone and kept wishing for it's quick recovery. Eventually I grew used to the situation and stopped hoping. I realized that I could manage to live without a cellphone - in fact, I didn't really need one - and decided not to redeem my SE w880.

When people ask me about when I intend to buy a new phone, I tell them that I really don't - at least not right now. I'm actually enjoying not having a phone. Not having to answer calls at awkward times, not even having a choice to make an "urgent" phone call (Thot: Since technological advancements have made things faster and easier for us, everything seems to be urgent these days, but not necessarily important). I think of it as an unplanned detox from all the techno-stress.

winding down early

I was fortunate to be able to wind down earlier than usual last night, and thus go to bed relatively earlier. And (though I was obsessing a bit over the things that I could have been doing instead of taking a break), I was glad that by 8pm, I wasn't at the computer as I usually would be.

It was a happy little accident actually. I was set to attend a 7pm meeting so I put my notes and work-stuff aside and turned the laptop off. I later learned that the meeting was canceled. I thought of going back to the laptop to get some work done before going to bed. But since this old machine i work on takes around thirty minutes to switch on, boot and warm up, I decided to just let it rest. I reckoned could use some rest myself. In wanting to avoid the unnecessary techno-stress, I thought of just winding down with the Hubby in front of the telly instead. I haven't been able to do that in a while, and it felt nice to.

To keep my mind from obsessing over the next day's work, I took a pad of paper and a pencil and did some drawing. I came up with something rather cute. That's something else I miss doing - drawing, I mean - and was really glad to have had time for it last night.

I love the computer and I love the internet - in fact I realize I've gotten quite dependent and spend too much time on it - but I really appreciate staying away from the computer sometimes. Because I get to be in touch with the other things that I love.

I'm considering the discipline of logging off by 8 or 9pm, whether or not work is done. I think that's a good idea. Pack up early, dim the lights and wind down with a cold glass of chocolate milk. Why not? Maybe a good book and a soft pillow next time instead of TV and pencil-and-paper.