Thursday, March 29, 2012
WHITEY'S NEW BABIES
Two days ago, Whitey became a mother again for the fifth time and this time surprisingly is her largest litter to date - 9 baby bunnies! Yup you got that right - 9 little ones! Just too bad though that one of them was born dead and another was found wounded in the head died this morning, but still 7 bunnies! I just hope each one of them survives. Because if you could recall, just last month Whitey gave birth to seven bunnies who all died after falling from the crevices in Whitey's cage. I found six of them the next morning scattered along the watery canal where they died from the cold, since their bodies were left in the water for so long - poor little bunnies! While, the only one left inside the cage was all mangled up and torn to pieces. I guess the last one was murdered by Whitey herself after hearing her babies crying for help and yet feeling helpless about it, unable to do anything to save them. Maybe, she blamed the surviving one for letting the others fall off and vented her anger at it. But of course, I'm only speculating here. I don't really know for sure what indeed happened because I wasn't there but soundly sleeping. Let's just hope that this time Whitey would be a better mom and not hurt her kits since rabbits are known to do that sometimes, if they are agitated or angered by something. I hope that this time all seven remaining bunnies grow big and strong in the next few days. I will keep you posted. Meanwhile, here's a pic of the bunnies taken this morning.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
TEMPLE RUN AT LAST!
Finally, after months of waiting and waiting and constantly browsing Android Apps for its arrival the most awaited game has arrived in Android – Temple Run! I know, Apple users have been using this since last year pa but what could we do, we’re Android users so we just had to hope and pray that soon Android would develop the same game for its users - and thankfully our prayers have now been answered!
But what is the game really about – here’s the gist from Wikipedia - Temple Run is an endless action video game developed by the Raleigh-based Imangi Studios. The game revolves around several curious explorers attempting to steal an idol from a temple and being chased by "demonic monkeys". The player controls the explorers with a few simple touch screen gestures and device tilting and aims to run as far as possible without being "eaten", therefore the namesake of the game, "Temple Run."
Despite the simple premise and objective of the game (to survive and just run for your life!), many had become addicted to the game - myself included! There is really no object to attain or level-ups to reach for but the simplicity of the game is the one that makes it addicting – and besides, it is all not just about running. There is in fact a strategy that one must devise to reach far, there are power-ups that a player can collect while running – the invisibility shield, mega coin, coin magnet, the boost. So that by the time you are dead, you would know you have reached or ran far enough by the number of coins or points that you have acquired. But so far, despite my numerous attempts, I have failed to break the one million mark. But kids being kids, my kids already have done it. Maybe someday I will too!
But what is the game really about – here’s the gist from Wikipedia - Temple Run is an endless action video game developed by the Raleigh-based Imangi Studios. The game revolves around several curious explorers attempting to steal an idol from a temple and being chased by "demonic monkeys". The player controls the explorers with a few simple touch screen gestures and device tilting and aims to run as far as possible without being "eaten", therefore the namesake of the game, "Temple Run."
Despite the simple premise and objective of the game (to survive and just run for your life!), many had become addicted to the game - myself included! There is really no object to attain or level-ups to reach for but the simplicity of the game is the one that makes it addicting – and besides, it is all not just about running. There is in fact a strategy that one must devise to reach far, there are power-ups that a player can collect while running – the invisibility shield, mega coin, coin magnet, the boost. So that by the time you are dead, you would know you have reached or ran far enough by the number of coins or points that you have acquired. But so far, despite my numerous attempts, I have failed to break the one million mark. But kids being kids, my kids already have done it. Maybe someday I will too!
Sunday, March 25, 2012
FINAL DESTINATION 5 - a movie review
It's another lazy Sunday, and so when we finished eating breakfast at ten and while the pork for sinigang simmers in the stove, my daughter and I started watching a horror/suspense thriller - Final Destination 5. The movie starts with a bunch of workers gathered together for a company team-building/retreat. Sam Lawton, who is also a short-order cook has prepared the breakfast before the bus ride. He is praised by his boss for the breakfast he prepared and tells him to decide whether he wants to stay on as a sales guy or pursue his dreams of being a chef. Molly Harper, Sam's girlfriend, arrives and then breaks up with him. Meanwhile Peter's girlfriend Candice, an intern for the company and a gymnast, arrives with another co-worker, Olivia Castle. Finally, their boss arrives and told them to be ready to leave in 90 seconds. Peter, meanwhile had to fetch another co-worker from the plant so they could finally leave.
As the bus crosses a bridge that’s being constructed, Sam notices something amiss with the road, and he begins to have weird feelings while on the bus. The bus is stopped by a traffic operator, and then the bridge moves as if there is an earthquake. The road starts to crack and the suspension wires holding the bridge slowly breaks. The group immediately get off the bus. Candice is trapped when chunks of the road fall into the lake below. She hangs onto the railing of the bridge far off to the side, but the railing detaches, impaling her on the sail of a passing boat. The group panics as the bridge disintegrates more with each passing second.
Isaac, who was inside the restroom of the bus when they all disembarked is left inside and dies next as the bus is sent crashing into the lake. The crack in the middle of the bridge widens and so they all run. Another crack in the road occurs and they are left with only a rickety steel railing to cross. Olivia loses her eyeglasses in the melee and had difficulty finding her way. Peter helps her after he has seen that his girlfriend Molly has made it safely across the rails. But the railing falls and Olivia falls to the water. A car falls in after her, crushing her to death. Nathan dies next when he is hit by a swinging suspension wire. Then their boss dies too after being slathered with hot boiling asphalt from a truck that overturned. Peter and Sam make a jump towards the railings and try their best to go up to safety. But a truck beside Molly falls and with it, the steel bars it was carrying impaling Peter. Sam continues on up but another steel contraption falls from the truck and slices Peter in half.
At this point Sam suddenly returns to his senses (as if waking from a dream) and he sees he is still alive. And then everything in his dream starts to happen – like the bus stopping abruptly and the cut in his finger even the music playing on the radio. So Sam gets Molly off the bus and tries to convince others to get off the bridge too because the bridge is going to collapse. But they don’t seem inclined to believe him. Peter gets off to run after Sam and Molly to convince them to come back. Candice follows him, and Olivia, Nathan, Isaac, and Dennis soon get down too. Then they see the road starting to crack and they all run. The bridge collapses and their bus falls into the water but Sam and his friends are able to run to a safe place. The group looks surprised and confused as to how Sam knew the accident was going to happen.
An investigation ensues and even the investigator is baffled as to how Sam knew the incident was going to happen but Sam himself found it difficult to explain that he had a ‘vision’ before the event actually occurred. The investigator doesn’t believe this though and tries to pin the destruction of the bridge on Sam – like a terrorist act. But the engineering investigation failed to support his theory saying that it was the wind that caused the ‘freak accident’ on the bridge. So he had no choice but to stop his nosy questions on the eight Presage employees who survived.
During the company funeral for their seventeen officemates who died when the bridge collapsed, William Bludworth, a local coroner, is present and he warns the group that Death is after them because it doesn’t like to be cheated. They all ignore his warnings and move on with their lives. Sam and Molly try to reconcile later that night but Molly insist that Sam follow his dreams and take the job in Paris.
The next day, Candice is with Peter at her gymnastics practice, and he convinces her to go on despite her misgivings after what just happened. So, Candice does some work on the balance beam, and a nail from a malfunctioning fan falls on the beam. But the said nail doesn't injure her, instead another girl falls on the nail and she knocks off a pit full of powder. This then causes Candice, who was then doing vault work to lose her sight, and as she flips she loses her grip on the bars and lands on the floor dead with a broken spine... Ewww! Truly a very gory scene, much worse than being impaled on a ship's sail.
The next day as the group is gathered together at their work place and starts drinking to relax, Isaac goes through a dead co-workers' desk and steals some of his loose change and even a free coupon for a Chinese massage parlor. He thinks his dead friend won't miss them anyway. He proceeds to the massage place, starts flirting with the receptionist and the girl retaliates by giving him an old Chinese woman attendant who speaks little English. She gives him a ‘hard’ kind of massage – one that he doesn’t at all expect and in the process one of the screws of the bed’s legs comes out. Then, she does acupuncture on him, and leaves him alone in a sound proof room. A fire starts when one of the incense sticks falls on an open book. He shouts but no one hears him. Isaac rolls off the bed when one of its legs caves in sending him to the ground, pushing the needles into his body. He tries to get up and takes off the needles piercing his now bloody body. But his cellphone set on vibrate causes a candle to fall to the floor that had been drenched with alcohol. Isaac avoids the fire, but as he lay trapped against the wall, a shelved Buddha falls and crushes his head. As gory as the way he died in the bus when it crashed into the lake while he was lying smack against the windshield...ewww!
Sam sees Budworth, the same guy who was present in all of their friends’ deaths so far. The friends have started to believe that their friends’ deaths are not ‘freaks’ and they cannot be coincidences anymore. Sam approaches him and asks him what had been happening to them. Sam asks him about his statement the other day, that death doesn’t want to be cheated. He says that the lucky few who usually survive disasters do not really have a way to escape death. They are doomed to die in one way or another. But there is another way to avoid Death - they would have to kill someone to gain their remaining days on Earth. Peter starts to believe in the idea and even gets angry at Sam for deciding to save Molly while the rest of them were not saved.
Olivia goes for eye surgery on the same day, and the doctor straps her head into place. Olivia, fearful, holds a teddy bear, and as the doctor put in contraptions to keep her eyes open, she rips off an eye from the bear. Olivia is told by the doctor to wait, but the machine begins to malfunction, overheating, and the button to begin surgery is dropped as she reaches for it in panic. The remote drops and the laser slices her eye open. The laser goes off a few more times and it burns through her hand and scars her face. She then escapes the machine. Sam and Molly and the doctor run in to see a scared Olivia, and she trips on the teddy bear's eye. She falls through the window onto a parked car, and falls off as her eye rolls away to be run over by a car.
The same investigator visits them and starts to doubt that the deaths were all caused by ‘freak accidents’, he believes there is a pattern and wants Sam and Molly to tell him what they know. So they share with him what they believe that they weren’t supposed to survive the bus crash, and so now they’re being taken one by one. That night Sam is kept awake thinking about the ‘premonition’ he had and tells Molly how the sequence of events happened and how it seems to fit the pattern of their friends’ deaths. First it was Candace who fell off the bridge, then Isaac who crashed with the bus, then Olivia as she was being helped by Sam to cross the railings - they’re all dying in the exact order of his ‘dream’.
Nathan is next shown working in the construction plant. He talks to Roy who is angry with him for management’s decision to cut everyone’s working hours. As they talk, Nathan sees a beam moving closer to them with a hook under it. Nathan urges Roy to move, but he accidentally pushes him backwards as the hook falls, and Roy is stopped from landing on the spikes below. Nathan then sees Roy has been impaled by the hook through the head. Peter discovers that Nathan accidentally killed Roy, taking his days, skipping him in Death's design. Meanwhile, their boss, Dennis arrives, asking about the incident when suddenly a wrench that Roy placed on a machine flies off right into Dennis's face, just as Sam was telling them that there seems to be an order to the deaths and that Dennis will be next.
Later that night, Sam goes to work in the café, Le Miro 81. Inside the kitchen, Sam gets apprehensive approaching all those kitchen gadgets that may get him in an accident and so he remains careful. Sam accepts the apprenticeship in Paris. His mentor also lets Sam have the restaurant for the night to spend it with Molly. The investigator meanwhile stays on guard outside the restaurant/café. Peter crashes the dinner, and tells them how he tried to push a woman in front of a truck to steal her life. But he admits he couldn't do such an act, and he then ponders Candice's death and how she didn't deserve to die, but yet Molly survived because of Sam. Peter then tries to kill Molly because he thinks Molly didn’t deserve to live while all of them dies. Molly takes refuge in the kitchen and Sam fights off Peter. Agent Block hears gunshots and enters the café. He is shot by Peter, taking his years. Molly and Peter continue to struggle because Peter refuses to just go and let Molly live because she witnessed him killing a federal agent. Sam wakes after being knocked out earlier by Peter and they struggle with the gun and it falls on the burning stove. But as Peter was about to kill Molly, Sam stabs him in the back with a large skewer. The gun in the stove goes off but misses Sam by a few inches and Sam realizes he stole Agent Block's life from Peter, and so both he and Molly are saved.
Two weeks later, Sam and Molly are on a plane to Paris, and she asks for the window seat. As they are boarding, a group of high school students get into a fight and a kid is kicked off with a teacher. During takeoff, and as the lights were dimmed Sam tries to sleep and puts on his headset but he freaks out hearing the same song on the radio before their bus crashed – ‘Dust in the wind’. Then the lights begin to flicker and the plane is rocked by turbulence, it’s like déjà vu all over again. Sam overhears the stewardess talking to a passenger that the kid that got off the plane claimed to have a vision that the plane was going to explode. When Sam and Molly looked out the window, the wings of the plane begin to explode just as the kid predicted. A hole materializes at the side of the plane and Molly and her seat is sucked out as Sam desperately tries to hold on to her. He wasn’t able to though and she is cut in half by the wing as the rest of the passengers, including Sam get engulfed in flames. As the plane goes down Nathan is shown at a local bar, and he is seen talking to a guy who reveals that Roy was going to die in the next few days anyway due to a huge tumor in his brain. Then suddenly the flaming engine from Flight 180 crashes through the bar and crushes Nathan to death.
What I can say about the movie? Well, aside from it being a truly gory experience, I guess all I could say is that I am just glad I was not watching the film while eating otherwise, I would’ve been totally disgusted because of all the blood and disjointed body parts flying off eeewww! Well, I have been able to watch a few other Final Destination films before so I have been pretty much forewarned. But this is a better installment because its ending is different than all the other Final Destination films. It also had a twist in the end. In all, it is a very violent film where kids die one after another after being saved from a catastrophe. The underlying message that all Final Destination films have is that no one can really cheat death. If you are meant to die, you can’t be saved, you’re going to die in one gruesome way or another.
As the bus crosses a bridge that’s being constructed, Sam notices something amiss with the road, and he begins to have weird feelings while on the bus. The bus is stopped by a traffic operator, and then the bridge moves as if there is an earthquake. The road starts to crack and the suspension wires holding the bridge slowly breaks. The group immediately get off the bus. Candice is trapped when chunks of the road fall into the lake below. She hangs onto the railing of the bridge far off to the side, but the railing detaches, impaling her on the sail of a passing boat. The group panics as the bridge disintegrates more with each passing second.
Isaac, who was inside the restroom of the bus when they all disembarked is left inside and dies next as the bus is sent crashing into the lake. The crack in the middle of the bridge widens and so they all run. Another crack in the road occurs and they are left with only a rickety steel railing to cross. Olivia loses her eyeglasses in the melee and had difficulty finding her way. Peter helps her after he has seen that his girlfriend Molly has made it safely across the rails. But the railing falls and Olivia falls to the water. A car falls in after her, crushing her to death. Nathan dies next when he is hit by a swinging suspension wire. Then their boss dies too after being slathered with hot boiling asphalt from a truck that overturned. Peter and Sam make a jump towards the railings and try their best to go up to safety. But a truck beside Molly falls and with it, the steel bars it was carrying impaling Peter. Sam continues on up but another steel contraption falls from the truck and slices Peter in half.
At this point Sam suddenly returns to his senses (as if waking from a dream) and he sees he is still alive. And then everything in his dream starts to happen – like the bus stopping abruptly and the cut in his finger even the music playing on the radio. So Sam gets Molly off the bus and tries to convince others to get off the bridge too because the bridge is going to collapse. But they don’t seem inclined to believe him. Peter gets off to run after Sam and Molly to convince them to come back. Candice follows him, and Olivia, Nathan, Isaac, and Dennis soon get down too. Then they see the road starting to crack and they all run. The bridge collapses and their bus falls into the water but Sam and his friends are able to run to a safe place. The group looks surprised and confused as to how Sam knew the accident was going to happen.
An investigation ensues and even the investigator is baffled as to how Sam knew the incident was going to happen but Sam himself found it difficult to explain that he had a ‘vision’ before the event actually occurred. The investigator doesn’t believe this though and tries to pin the destruction of the bridge on Sam – like a terrorist act. But the engineering investigation failed to support his theory saying that it was the wind that caused the ‘freak accident’ on the bridge. So he had no choice but to stop his nosy questions on the eight Presage employees who survived.
During the company funeral for their seventeen officemates who died when the bridge collapsed, William Bludworth, a local coroner, is present and he warns the group that Death is after them because it doesn’t like to be cheated. They all ignore his warnings and move on with their lives. Sam and Molly try to reconcile later that night but Molly insist that Sam follow his dreams and take the job in Paris.
The next day, Candice is with Peter at her gymnastics practice, and he convinces her to go on despite her misgivings after what just happened. So, Candice does some work on the balance beam, and a nail from a malfunctioning fan falls on the beam. But the said nail doesn't injure her, instead another girl falls on the nail and she knocks off a pit full of powder. This then causes Candice, who was then doing vault work to lose her sight, and as she flips she loses her grip on the bars and lands on the floor dead with a broken spine... Ewww! Truly a very gory scene, much worse than being impaled on a ship's sail.
The next day as the group is gathered together at their work place and starts drinking to relax, Isaac goes through a dead co-workers' desk and steals some of his loose change and even a free coupon for a Chinese massage parlor. He thinks his dead friend won't miss them anyway. He proceeds to the massage place, starts flirting with the receptionist and the girl retaliates by giving him an old Chinese woman attendant who speaks little English. She gives him a ‘hard’ kind of massage – one that he doesn’t at all expect and in the process one of the screws of the bed’s legs comes out. Then, she does acupuncture on him, and leaves him alone in a sound proof room. A fire starts when one of the incense sticks falls on an open book. He shouts but no one hears him. Isaac rolls off the bed when one of its legs caves in sending him to the ground, pushing the needles into his body. He tries to get up and takes off the needles piercing his now bloody body. But his cellphone set on vibrate causes a candle to fall to the floor that had been drenched with alcohol. Isaac avoids the fire, but as he lay trapped against the wall, a shelved Buddha falls and crushes his head. As gory as the way he died in the bus when it crashed into the lake while he was lying smack against the windshield...ewww!
Sam sees Budworth, the same guy who was present in all of their friends’ deaths so far. The friends have started to believe that their friends’ deaths are not ‘freaks’ and they cannot be coincidences anymore. Sam approaches him and asks him what had been happening to them. Sam asks him about his statement the other day, that death doesn’t want to be cheated. He says that the lucky few who usually survive disasters do not really have a way to escape death. They are doomed to die in one way or another. But there is another way to avoid Death - they would have to kill someone to gain their remaining days on Earth. Peter starts to believe in the idea and even gets angry at Sam for deciding to save Molly while the rest of them were not saved.
Olivia goes for eye surgery on the same day, and the doctor straps her head into place. Olivia, fearful, holds a teddy bear, and as the doctor put in contraptions to keep her eyes open, she rips off an eye from the bear. Olivia is told by the doctor to wait, but the machine begins to malfunction, overheating, and the button to begin surgery is dropped as she reaches for it in panic. The remote drops and the laser slices her eye open. The laser goes off a few more times and it burns through her hand and scars her face. She then escapes the machine. Sam and Molly and the doctor run in to see a scared Olivia, and she trips on the teddy bear's eye. She falls through the window onto a parked car, and falls off as her eye rolls away to be run over by a car.
The same investigator visits them and starts to doubt that the deaths were all caused by ‘freak accidents’, he believes there is a pattern and wants Sam and Molly to tell him what they know. So they share with him what they believe that they weren’t supposed to survive the bus crash, and so now they’re being taken one by one. That night Sam is kept awake thinking about the ‘premonition’ he had and tells Molly how the sequence of events happened and how it seems to fit the pattern of their friends’ deaths. First it was Candace who fell off the bridge, then Isaac who crashed with the bus, then Olivia as she was being helped by Sam to cross the railings - they’re all dying in the exact order of his ‘dream’.
Nathan is next shown working in the construction plant. He talks to Roy who is angry with him for management’s decision to cut everyone’s working hours. As they talk, Nathan sees a beam moving closer to them with a hook under it. Nathan urges Roy to move, but he accidentally pushes him backwards as the hook falls, and Roy is stopped from landing on the spikes below. Nathan then sees Roy has been impaled by the hook through the head. Peter discovers that Nathan accidentally killed Roy, taking his days, skipping him in Death's design. Meanwhile, their boss, Dennis arrives, asking about the incident when suddenly a wrench that Roy placed on a machine flies off right into Dennis's face, just as Sam was telling them that there seems to be an order to the deaths and that Dennis will be next.
Later that night, Sam goes to work in the café, Le Miro 81. Inside the kitchen, Sam gets apprehensive approaching all those kitchen gadgets that may get him in an accident and so he remains careful. Sam accepts the apprenticeship in Paris. His mentor also lets Sam have the restaurant for the night to spend it with Molly. The investigator meanwhile stays on guard outside the restaurant/café. Peter crashes the dinner, and tells them how he tried to push a woman in front of a truck to steal her life. But he admits he couldn't do such an act, and he then ponders Candice's death and how she didn't deserve to die, but yet Molly survived because of Sam. Peter then tries to kill Molly because he thinks Molly didn’t deserve to live while all of them dies. Molly takes refuge in the kitchen and Sam fights off Peter. Agent Block hears gunshots and enters the café. He is shot by Peter, taking his years. Molly and Peter continue to struggle because Peter refuses to just go and let Molly live because she witnessed him killing a federal agent. Sam wakes after being knocked out earlier by Peter and they struggle with the gun and it falls on the burning stove. But as Peter was about to kill Molly, Sam stabs him in the back with a large skewer. The gun in the stove goes off but misses Sam by a few inches and Sam realizes he stole Agent Block's life from Peter, and so both he and Molly are saved.
Two weeks later, Sam and Molly are on a plane to Paris, and she asks for the window seat. As they are boarding, a group of high school students get into a fight and a kid is kicked off with a teacher. During takeoff, and as the lights were dimmed Sam tries to sleep and puts on his headset but he freaks out hearing the same song on the radio before their bus crashed – ‘Dust in the wind’. Then the lights begin to flicker and the plane is rocked by turbulence, it’s like déjà vu all over again. Sam overhears the stewardess talking to a passenger that the kid that got off the plane claimed to have a vision that the plane was going to explode. When Sam and Molly looked out the window, the wings of the plane begin to explode just as the kid predicted. A hole materializes at the side of the plane and Molly and her seat is sucked out as Sam desperately tries to hold on to her. He wasn’t able to though and she is cut in half by the wing as the rest of the passengers, including Sam get engulfed in flames. As the plane goes down Nathan is shown at a local bar, and he is seen talking to a guy who reveals that Roy was going to die in the next few days anyway due to a huge tumor in his brain. Then suddenly the flaming engine from Flight 180 crashes through the bar and crushes Nathan to death.
What I can say about the movie? Well, aside from it being a truly gory experience, I guess all I could say is that I am just glad I was not watching the film while eating otherwise, I would’ve been totally disgusted because of all the blood and disjointed body parts flying off eeewww! Well, I have been able to watch a few other Final Destination films before so I have been pretty much forewarned. But this is a better installment because its ending is different than all the other Final Destination films. It also had a twist in the end. In all, it is a very violent film where kids die one after another after being saved from a catastrophe. The underlying message that all Final Destination films have is that no one can really cheat death. If you are meant to die, you can’t be saved, you’re going to die in one gruesome way or another.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 63 - POTATO SALAD AND BAKED MAC
To make up for the disastrous lunch I made earlier, I decided to cook an old-time fave of the family and one which I am sure they felt wanting more of during Kit's graduation celebration two days ago - baked macaroni. I remember cooking a kilo and a half of baked mac but everything just blew up in smoke and I am quite sure, they weren't quite satisfied then. So I made some more today for our dinner. The recipe I used was one I got from CASA Veneracion (get the recipe from her site, my apologies because I don't know how to link)and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed because this baked mac recipe of hers has been a perennial hit.
I paired the baked mac with store bought lechon manok and potato salad. It was basically just some pearl potatoes which was boiled in salted water then tossed with carrots, white onions, canned tuna (oil removed) , boiled quails eggs, pineapple chunks, bits of cheese and smothered in mayo-cream dressing and served on top of a bed of lettuce.
KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 62: CHICKEN FILLET WITH HONEY LEMON AND GINGER
For our lunch today, I decided to cook a dish that I got once again from Connie (CASA Veneracion blog, so sorry I can’t provide the links) It required the use of chicken fillets seasoned with salt and pepper. After the seasonings have flavored the chicken, fry them in a bit of oil in a non-stick pan. Set this aside in a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil. Reheat the pan, add the ginger, lemon juice and honey. Return the chicken pieces, add 1/4c water and let it simmer for about ten minutes. When the sauce has thickened, remove from fire and transfer the chicken and sauce to a serving platter. Garnish with sliced onion leaves.
And how did it taste? I think it was a bit sour for my family's taste. Good thing, I didn't add all of the chicken into the sauce so that they were able to eat the fried chicken strips without the sauce. Hmm, I guess I failed to follow her recipe correctly or maybe I did a procedure wrongly. Oh well, I don't think I'd be able to master this sweet and sour mixture perfectly no matter how many times I try.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
A FILM REVIEW: THE BUCKET LIST
This is a story about two guys from two opposite sides of society – a mechanic named Carter Chambers (played by Morgan Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (played by Jack Nicholson). The two terminally-ill patients become friends as they share a hospital room. Carter is a gifted amateur historian and family man who had wanted to become a history professor, but his black background just never allowed him to rise above his job at the garage shop. Edward, meanwhile, is a four-times-divorced healthcare tycoon and cultured loner who enjoy nothing more than tormenting his personal valet/servant, Matthew, whom he calls Thomas.
The story revolves around Carter’s writing of a "bucket list," or things to do before he "kicks the bucket", especially after hearing he has less than a year to live. But a frustrated Carter wads it up and tosses it on the floor which Edward finds the next morning. He urges Carter to do everything on the list (suggesting he add things like skydiving) and offers to finance the trip. Carter agrees, despite the protests of his wife, Virginia.
And so the pair begins an around-the-world vacation, go skydiving, drive a Shelby Mustang, fly over the North Pole, eat dinner at Chevre d'Or in France, visit and praise the beauty and history of Taj Mahal, India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, and attend a lion safari in Africa. Atop the Great Pyramid, looking out over the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, they confide about faith and family, revealing that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and that Edward is deeply hurt by his estrangement from his only daughter, who disowned him after he drove away her abusive husband.
In Hong Kong, Edward hires a prostitute (Rowena King) for Carter, who has never had sex with any woman but his wife. Carter declines and asks to return home, and reciprocates by trying to reunite Edward with his daughter. Edward angrily storms off. Carter returns home to his wife, children, and grandchildren. But their family reunion is short-lived. In the preparation for a romantic interlude, Carter suffers a seizure and is rushed to the hospital. The cancer has spread to his brain. Edward, who is now in remission, visits him and they share a few moments, where Carter reveals to great amusement the disgusting origin of the "world's most rare coffee" (Kopi Luwak), over which Edward obsesses and Carter has refused to drink. Carter crosses off "laugh till I cry" from his bucket list and insists Edward finish the list without him. Carter goes into surgery but the procedure is unsuccessful. He dies on the operating table.
Edward delivers a eulogy at the funeral, explaining that he and Carter had been complete strangers, but the last three months of Carter's life were the best three months of his (Edward's). He crosses off "help a complete stranger for a common good" from the list. We see Edward finally attempt to reconcile with his daughter. She not only accepts him back into her life but also introduces him to the granddaughter he never knew. After greeting the little girl with a kiss on the cheek, Edward crosses "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list. In the epilogue, it is revealed that Edward lived until the age of 81, and his ashes are brought to the top of the Himalayas. It turns out to be Matthew who does this, and as he places Edward's ashes alongside a can containing Carter's, he crosses off the last item on the Bucket List ("witness something truly majestic") and places it beside them. In the final lines of the movie, Carter explains “I’m pretty sure he {Edward} was happy with his final resting place. Because he was buried on the mountain, and that was against the law."
This is one of the few good movies that I have watched this year, I know, I know, ‘The Bucket List’ had been around since 2007 but I never got around to watching the movie until now and I am just quite glad that I did. Let’s start with the film’s cast - Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman - they are quite considerably two of the best actors in Hollywood today. Jack Nicholson is just funny, no matter what he says or does; he has many funny moments here while Morgan Freeman is such a great actor. Jack Nicholson's performance is excellent as his character undergoes a change of heart due to Carter's friendship. Morgan Freeman can make me laugh and cry from moment to moment. These two actors work so well together – the chemistry between these veterans is pleasantly refreshing, and because of it, The Bucket List is one of the most entertaining films I have watched.
The story is predictable, but still quite enjoyable. It is a great movie about friendship - how two men become great friends in a short time and help each other out throughout the time they are together. The story is not boring, with the emotional parts done just right, and the conversations conducted between the two are never dull - meaningful, affecting and downright funny, the script is amazingly well paced and flows quite naturally.
The film emphasizes the message that the journey is the important thing, not the destination. It is one of the best feel good movies that I have seen and conveys the point that life should be led to the fullest because not everyone is given the chance like Edward and Carter to do the things they want to do before they ‘kicked the bucket’.
In due time, I guess I too want to do my own version of a ‘Bucket List’ - not because I’m going to die soon but because I feel like I am getting old too soon - and I feel that there are just so many things I want to do while both my mind and body are still capable of doing it. Maybe in a few more days or weeks maybe I’ll just come up with my own list!
[phot grabbed from IMDB]
The story revolves around Carter’s writing of a "bucket list," or things to do before he "kicks the bucket", especially after hearing he has less than a year to live. But a frustrated Carter wads it up and tosses it on the floor which Edward finds the next morning. He urges Carter to do everything on the list (suggesting he add things like skydiving) and offers to finance the trip. Carter agrees, despite the protests of his wife, Virginia.
And so the pair begins an around-the-world vacation, go skydiving, drive a Shelby Mustang, fly over the North Pole, eat dinner at Chevre d'Or in France, visit and praise the beauty and history of Taj Mahal, India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, and attend a lion safari in Africa. Atop the Great Pyramid, looking out over the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, they confide about faith and family, revealing that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and that Edward is deeply hurt by his estrangement from his only daughter, who disowned him after he drove away her abusive husband.
In Hong Kong, Edward hires a prostitute (Rowena King) for Carter, who has never had sex with any woman but his wife. Carter declines and asks to return home, and reciprocates by trying to reunite Edward with his daughter. Edward angrily storms off. Carter returns home to his wife, children, and grandchildren. But their family reunion is short-lived. In the preparation for a romantic interlude, Carter suffers a seizure and is rushed to the hospital. The cancer has spread to his brain. Edward, who is now in remission, visits him and they share a few moments, where Carter reveals to great amusement the disgusting origin of the "world's most rare coffee" (Kopi Luwak), over which Edward obsesses and Carter has refused to drink. Carter crosses off "laugh till I cry" from his bucket list and insists Edward finish the list without him. Carter goes into surgery but the procedure is unsuccessful. He dies on the operating table.
Edward delivers a eulogy at the funeral, explaining that he and Carter had been complete strangers, but the last three months of Carter's life were the best three months of his (Edward's). He crosses off "help a complete stranger for a common good" from the list. We see Edward finally attempt to reconcile with his daughter. She not only accepts him back into her life but also introduces him to the granddaughter he never knew. After greeting the little girl with a kiss on the cheek, Edward crosses "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list. In the epilogue, it is revealed that Edward lived until the age of 81, and his ashes are brought to the top of the Himalayas. It turns out to be Matthew who does this, and as he places Edward's ashes alongside a can containing Carter's, he crosses off the last item on the Bucket List ("witness something truly majestic") and places it beside them. In the final lines of the movie, Carter explains “I’m pretty sure he {Edward} was happy with his final resting place. Because he was buried on the mountain, and that was against the law."
This is one of the few good movies that I have watched this year, I know, I know, ‘The Bucket List’ had been around since 2007 but I never got around to watching the movie until now and I am just quite glad that I did. Let’s start with the film’s cast - Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman - they are quite considerably two of the best actors in Hollywood today. Jack Nicholson is just funny, no matter what he says or does; he has many funny moments here while Morgan Freeman is such a great actor. Jack Nicholson's performance is excellent as his character undergoes a change of heart due to Carter's friendship. Morgan Freeman can make me laugh and cry from moment to moment. These two actors work so well together – the chemistry between these veterans is pleasantly refreshing, and because of it, The Bucket List is one of the most entertaining films I have watched.
The story is predictable, but still quite enjoyable. It is a great movie about friendship - how two men become great friends in a short time and help each other out throughout the time they are together. The story is not boring, with the emotional parts done just right, and the conversations conducted between the two are never dull - meaningful, affecting and downright funny, the script is amazingly well paced and flows quite naturally.
The film emphasizes the message that the journey is the important thing, not the destination. It is one of the best feel good movies that I have seen and conveys the point that life should be led to the fullest because not everyone is given the chance like Edward and Carter to do the things they want to do before they ‘kicked the bucket’.
In due time, I guess I too want to do my own version of a ‘Bucket List’ - not because I’m going to die soon but because I feel like I am getting old too soon - and I feel that there are just so many things I want to do while both my mind and body are still capable of doing it. Maybe in a few more days or weeks maybe I’ll just come up with my own list!
[phot grabbed from IMDB]
Monday, March 12, 2012
KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 61: Chicken pineapple casserole
For our dinner, I chose to follow another chicken recipe from Casa Veneracion but what I did not follow is the spiciness of the dish since the hubby is not anymore into spicy foods due to his ulcers. What I just liked about this dish is how it is very easy and quick to make. You just chop everything, place them in a baking dish with all the needed seasonings and bake in an oven or a turbo broiler for an hour. So I am able to do other things while the dinner cooks by itself. That’s the dish before it was placed in the oven, the next pic shows the chicken already cooked. The meal was good naman but was just a tad salty, I just wonder where I went wrong ??? But then again the food was not such a hit with the family since it is just now that I realized that they do not really like dishes cooked with pineapple, so now I know what food to avoid.
MY CABINET’S TURN!
Here are just some recent updates on the new cabinet that the hubby has been doing for me (at last!) Actually, he wanted a full wardrobe type that would be similar in size to the old cabinet from my mother but it would be difficult to bring the entire thing upstairs to our bedroom. So he opted to make one that would be placed one on top of the other but I disagreed since it might fall down on us when an earthquake happens. Instead, he just made it into a small one that had a top where some picture frames and a small lamp could be placed. It’s pretty much the same size as the TV rack downstairs but instead of open shelves, mine would have closed doors for my things and folded clothes.
He actually started doing my cabinet on February 21 (pic on the left) on the day he finished painting my daughter’s cabinet. But due to the changes in design, he took a bit longer in getting it done since he had to reduce the cabinet’s height and cut the wood he has already nailed into place. (see the difference in height on the second pic taken on March 8?) Then, this weekend he was able to do the cabinet shelves and doors (third pic). Pretty soon, I hope my cabinet will be done…
He actually started doing my cabinet on February 21 (pic on the left) on the day he finished painting my daughter’s cabinet. But due to the changes in design, he took a bit longer in getting it done since he had to reduce the cabinet’s height and cut the wood he has already nailed into place. (see the difference in height on the second pic taken on March 8?) Then, this weekend he was able to do the cabinet shelves and doors (third pic). Pretty soon, I hope my cabinet will be done…
Sunday, March 11, 2012
KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 60: SWEET AND SOUR TILAPIA
For our lunch today, the hubby wanted me to cook sweet and sour fish but since I was not able to buy any fleshy fish like lapu-lapu, I just settled on the ever-dependable tilapia that can be easily bought at our neighborhood talipapa. I fried the fish that I bought (about a kilo and it yielded four medium-sized fishes) then I set aside two pieces for my daughter because she does not really like viands with sauces like this. She just prefers fried food.
For the sauce, I turned to my favorite food blogger (Connie Veneracion with blogsite at CASA Veneracion) for her tried and tested recipe. She actually had two recipes of sweet and sour fish in her archives it is up to you whichever you choose to follow. I say tried and tested because I have cooked this dish a few times already and it has worked well for me! The hubby and kids just loved it. Thanks again Connie for the delicious recipe you have been sharing!
For the sauce, I turned to my favorite food blogger (Connie Veneracion with blogsite at CASA Veneracion) for her tried and tested recipe. She actually had two recipes of sweet and sour fish in her archives it is up to you whichever you choose to follow. I say tried and tested because I have cooked this dish a few times already and it has worked well for me! The hubby and kids just loved it. Thanks again Connie for the delicious recipe you have been sharing!
KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 59: French toast and Sunny side up bread
Today, I decided to forego our usual breakfast fare of rice and fried meat or fish and instead cook the bread I bought yesterday in two different ways. Actually, there is another reason why I made the bread into this, you see last night I saw some loaves on sale – at Buy 1 Take 1 prices and I figured since they are not yet expired but on the brink of expiring…why not! It turns out to be a wrong decision though coz when I opened the bread, I saw that the texture isn’t as fine as my favorite bread, Gardenia, but instead its full of airholes (parang buhaghag). I knew at once that the kids and the hubby would not like it and so rather than see the bread go to waste, I made them into French Toast and Sunny Side Up Bread!
For the French toast, you will need one egg, mixed with 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk and 1/3 cup of water. Then, place some butter in a non-stick pan dip both sides of the bread in the milk-egg mixture before frying in hot butter until golden brown. Flip the bread over to brown the underside and that’s it - the French toast is done!
The Sunny side up bread is also easy. Just make a hole in the bread and then carefully drop the sunny side up egg inside the hole and wait a bit until it gets cooked. No, I did not flip it anymore to cook the other side because the kids want the eggs to be mushy in the center. I just transferred the egg to a plate using a spatula and that’s it, sunny side up bread. I served the breads with sopas to make our breakfast a bit more filling.
For the French toast, you will need one egg, mixed with 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk and 1/3 cup of water. Then, place some butter in a non-stick pan dip both sides of the bread in the milk-egg mixture before frying in hot butter until golden brown. Flip the bread over to brown the underside and that’s it - the French toast is done!
The Sunny side up bread is also easy. Just make a hole in the bread and then carefully drop the sunny side up egg inside the hole and wait a bit until it gets cooked. No, I did not flip it anymore to cook the other side because the kids want the eggs to be mushy in the center. I just transferred the egg to a plate using a spatula and that’s it, sunny side up bread. I served the breads with sopas to make our breakfast a bit more filling.
TITA'S FATHER IS DEAD…
This weekend, we had planned to go to UPLB, stay overnight at the National Arts Center and even maybe visit the huge Olympic-sized pool at Pook ni Maria Makiling. This would have been our celebration for March birthday celebrants (including mine, of course!) but alas it wasn’t meant to be because yesterday I received a distressing text from Papa asking for prayers for Tita Espie’s father who died in his sleep last night.
Well, I guess it is for the best as he is quite old already and had been afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease for the past few months (or maybe even years I just don’t really know). And though he has not been suffering much from any disease, I guess he can be considered to have lived his life fully well. In fact, when we arrived at his wake at Sto. Domingo church, I was quite surprised to learn that he was a tenor during his heydays – and quite a well-known one at that! We were even treated to a concert-like performance by some of his contemporaries who came to visit his remains. All the while we thought it was a radio or stereo with an opera CD playing buy it turned out to be a few old men with golden voices, truly quite an enchanting experience.
We got there at around 8pm, after we ate dinner but there was lots of food there, too, so we had no trouble staying long and engaging in some small talk with the cousins. It was way past midnight when we finally left and we still brought my sister and my brother’s kids to their home in Project 4 and Maryland. But before we left, I gave a tight reassuring hug to my step mother. I know nothing and no one could really ease her pain. It is just so sad to lose one’s father no matter what the circumstances were. I guess I just want to let her know that I will just be here in case she would ever need some comfort…
Well, I guess it is for the best as he is quite old already and had been afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease for the past few months (or maybe even years I just don’t really know). And though he has not been suffering much from any disease, I guess he can be considered to have lived his life fully well. In fact, when we arrived at his wake at Sto. Domingo church, I was quite surprised to learn that he was a tenor during his heydays – and quite a well-known one at that! We were even treated to a concert-like performance by some of his contemporaries who came to visit his remains. All the while we thought it was a radio or stereo with an opera CD playing buy it turned out to be a few old men with golden voices, truly quite an enchanting experience.
We got there at around 8pm, after we ate dinner but there was lots of food there, too, so we had no trouble staying long and engaging in some small talk with the cousins. It was way past midnight when we finally left and we still brought my sister and my brother’s kids to their home in Project 4 and Maryland. But before we left, I gave a tight reassuring hug to my step mother. I know nothing and no one could really ease her pain. It is just so sad to lose one’s father no matter what the circumstances were. I guess I just want to let her know that I will just be here in case she would ever need some comfort…
Saturday, March 10, 2012
KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 58: Bangus fritters
The tasty bangus has been a perennial favorite in our family – pretty much like the tilapia because it is almost always sold in our small market or talipapa near our village. So every week we usually get at least one dinner of bangus that may be served either fried, inihaw, paksiw or even bistek style. But then one usually gets tired of the usual bangus fare so recently when I saw this in the archive of my fave food blogger (Connie Veneracion), I vowed to myself that I would try to do this one weekend, just for a change ? And I am glad that I did it on a weekend because I never realized it would take me so long to pick off the bones from the fish.
For the exact recipe, just get it from Ms. Connie’s website at her CASA Veneracion blog. I used her exact recipe except that I did not have sweet pimiento or parsley so I just made do without it. Anyway, the fritters were a success since even my daughter, picky eater that she is seemed to like it too. What the hubby did not like very much was the mayo-garlic dip, well, I should have known, he was never really a fan of mayo so instead he dipped his fritters in a vinegar-soy sauce mixture and it tasted good too! Thanks once again Connie for another healthy meal!
For the exact recipe, just get it from Ms. Connie’s website at her CASA Veneracion blog. I used her exact recipe except that I did not have sweet pimiento or parsley so I just made do without it. Anyway, the fritters were a success since even my daughter, picky eater that she is seemed to like it too. What the hubby did not like very much was the mayo-garlic dip, well, I should have known, he was never really a fan of mayo so instead he dipped his fritters in a vinegar-soy sauce mixture and it tasted good too! Thanks once again Connie for another healthy meal!
Monday, March 05, 2012
Kitchen misadventure series 57: BIRTHDAY CARBONARA
This has always been my kids’ favorite and so this is the pasta dish that they usually request during their birthdays or even to bring during their class potluck party. So I guess, you can say I can cook this quite easily as long as I have the recipe ingredients on hand. What is needed is first, the pasta – any kind but the kids prefer the flat ones for carbonara like fettuccine or linguine noodles. This shall be cooked according to package instructions until al dente.
Now for the sauce, this is the tricky part – usually when I am pressed for time, I cook everything all at once but if not, I cook the carbonara the regular way – with the meat and vegetables first then the milk and cheese next. But more often than not I do not have the luxury of time and so I cook the carbonara sauce the easy way.
First, melt some butter (about two tablespoons) in a thick-bottomed pan. Saute garlic (lots of it, maybe an entire head or bulb,whatever it’s called) in the melted butter then add the tuna (if you’re using tuna or pre-cooked shredded chicken meat). Add the mushrooms and finally the red bell peppers. If I have more time to cook, I usually stop here and set aside the meat/mushroom mixture. Then I proceed to cook the milk and cheese mixture using the roux method. But when I am in a hurry, after the mushrooms and peppers have been cooked, I just add the milk, then the cream, then the cheeses and wait for the mixture to thicken. To serve, simply place the pasta on a plate, mix in the carbonara sauce and top with fried bacon bits, and voila - delicious carbonara!
Now for the sauce, this is the tricky part – usually when I am pressed for time, I cook everything all at once but if not, I cook the carbonara the regular way – with the meat and vegetables first then the milk and cheese next. But more often than not I do not have the luxury of time and so I cook the carbonara sauce the easy way.
First, melt some butter (about two tablespoons) in a thick-bottomed pan. Saute garlic (lots of it, maybe an entire head or bulb,whatever it’s called) in the melted butter then add the tuna (if you’re using tuna or pre-cooked shredded chicken meat). Add the mushrooms and finally the red bell peppers. If I have more time to cook, I usually stop here and set aside the meat/mushroom mixture. Then I proceed to cook the milk and cheese mixture using the roux method. But when I am in a hurry, after the mushrooms and peppers have been cooked, I just add the milk, then the cream, then the cheeses and wait for the mixture to thicken. To serve, simply place the pasta on a plate, mix in the carbonara sauce and top with fried bacon bits, and voila - delicious carbonara!
Sunday, March 04, 2012
ZOOKEEPER: A film review
On the exact day of my birthday, I stayed at home (still @ BP) not just because I was too tired with all the biyahe we made yesterday (to Tagaytay) but because I had zero balance already so no money and energy left to cook any more food. Well, I told them that yesterday was already my birthday celebration so they should not expect anything more. Instead, I just slept all day and watched movies on my Tab, including this one that I am reviewing today.
Zookeeper is a good film that was shown in 2011 and it tells the story of Griffin Keyes (played by Kevin James) who makes a move to propose to the love of his life, Stephanie, but she turns him down saying that the fact he was a zookeeper is not really good enough for her. The next scene shows Griffin five years later, he is now the lead zookeeper at the Franklin Park Zoo. Griffin held a party at the zoo for his brother Dave who is getting married. He was surprised to know that Stephanie was invited. Dave offers Griffin to come and work with him at the car dealership, since he says it is the best way to win back Stephanie. Griffin starts thinking of quitting his job at the zoo and joining his brother.
And so, the animals hold a meeting since they don’t want Griffin to leave knowing he is the best zookeeper they ever had. They decide to help him win Stephanie's heart. Some of them want to teach Griffin some mating tricks but the lion (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) protests, reminding them that it's against the animal code to talk to humans. The monkey (voiced by Adam Sandler) says that Stephanie will be at the zoo tomorrow so all they need is to make Griffin look like a hero in front of her.
They planned to unlock the door to the lion enclosure and let Joe, the lion, out to confront Stephanie and Dave's fiancee Robin. But it was Kate, the zoo vet, who saved them from the lion, as Griffin didn’t jump into the lion enclosure, thus ruining the animals' plan. So, the animals decide to break their code of silence and talk to Griffin.
Griffin at first was surprised and then became glad that the animals love him so much and want to help him. Once, taking advantage of his now newfound closeness and ability to talk with the animals, he visits Bernie, a gorilla banished to his cave after allegedly attacking Shane, another zookeeper. Bernie explains to Griffin that Shane abuses the animals and once while abusing Bernie, he fell. He lied and said that Bernie attacked him, causing Bernie to lose his trust in anyone.
Griffin gets a tip from Joe’s wife and decides to be seen with another female to make Stephanie jealous. So Griffin asks Kate to go on a date with him at Dave and Robin's wedding where Stephanie goes with another ex-boyfriend, Dale. Griffin and Kate have a great time together. Griffin even starts to stand up to Gale and this grabs Stephanie's attention. But when it was time for them to leave and Kate was telling Griffin she had a great time with him, Stephanie comes in to ask Griffin out to dinner. Griffin accepts and they both go to dinner and then to a fashion show.
Stephanie tells Griffin that his job at the zoo is holding him from the outside world, so Griffin decides to quit and accept Dave's offer, making Kate and all the other animals in the zoo upset. This includes Bernie, the gorilla whom he has started to befriend and regain his trust. Kate decides to leave the zoo and go work at a zoo in Nairobi.
Griffin becomes the best employee at the car dealership, but misses working at the zoo. Stephanie proposes to Griffin, but Griffin refuses and dumps her. He then goes back to the zoo and apologizes to Bernie, who accepts Griffin's friendship. The animals then tell Griffin that Kate is heading to the airport. With the help of Bernie, Griffin manages to catch up with Kate and confesses his love for her. Six months later, Griffin and Kate are back working at the zoo and Bernie is now living in a new enclosure where he gets a great view of the city.
The movie has its funny moments and can be considered a slapstick of sorts with most of the actors involved in ‘clumsy stunts’ that intend to make the audience laugh, especially the kids. But considering that the plot is mostly about dating and involves some double-edged jokes, I am not sure though if the kids would be fully engaged in this movie. Well, I guess that explains why my daughter stopped watching it after just a few minutes. I still love the effects though – of the animals talking and the voices used such a stellar line-up – with Stallone, Cher, Adam Sandler, Nick Nolte, among others. It was good for a few laughs and to keep my mind off anything else for a few hours.
[photo grabbed from IMDB]
Zookeeper is a good film that was shown in 2011 and it tells the story of Griffin Keyes (played by Kevin James) who makes a move to propose to the love of his life, Stephanie, but she turns him down saying that the fact he was a zookeeper is not really good enough for her. The next scene shows Griffin five years later, he is now the lead zookeeper at the Franklin Park Zoo. Griffin held a party at the zoo for his brother Dave who is getting married. He was surprised to know that Stephanie was invited. Dave offers Griffin to come and work with him at the car dealership, since he says it is the best way to win back Stephanie. Griffin starts thinking of quitting his job at the zoo and joining his brother.
And so, the animals hold a meeting since they don’t want Griffin to leave knowing he is the best zookeeper they ever had. They decide to help him win Stephanie's heart. Some of them want to teach Griffin some mating tricks but the lion (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) protests, reminding them that it's against the animal code to talk to humans. The monkey (voiced by Adam Sandler) says that Stephanie will be at the zoo tomorrow so all they need is to make Griffin look like a hero in front of her.
They planned to unlock the door to the lion enclosure and let Joe, the lion, out to confront Stephanie and Dave's fiancee Robin. But it was Kate, the zoo vet, who saved them from the lion, as Griffin didn’t jump into the lion enclosure, thus ruining the animals' plan. So, the animals decide to break their code of silence and talk to Griffin.
Griffin at first was surprised and then became glad that the animals love him so much and want to help him. Once, taking advantage of his now newfound closeness and ability to talk with the animals, he visits Bernie, a gorilla banished to his cave after allegedly attacking Shane, another zookeeper. Bernie explains to Griffin that Shane abuses the animals and once while abusing Bernie, he fell. He lied and said that Bernie attacked him, causing Bernie to lose his trust in anyone.
Griffin gets a tip from Joe’s wife and decides to be seen with another female to make Stephanie jealous. So Griffin asks Kate to go on a date with him at Dave and Robin's wedding where Stephanie goes with another ex-boyfriend, Dale. Griffin and Kate have a great time together. Griffin even starts to stand up to Gale and this grabs Stephanie's attention. But when it was time for them to leave and Kate was telling Griffin she had a great time with him, Stephanie comes in to ask Griffin out to dinner. Griffin accepts and they both go to dinner and then to a fashion show.
Stephanie tells Griffin that his job at the zoo is holding him from the outside world, so Griffin decides to quit and accept Dave's offer, making Kate and all the other animals in the zoo upset. This includes Bernie, the gorilla whom he has started to befriend and regain his trust. Kate decides to leave the zoo and go work at a zoo in Nairobi.
Griffin becomes the best employee at the car dealership, but misses working at the zoo. Stephanie proposes to Griffin, but Griffin refuses and dumps her. He then goes back to the zoo and apologizes to Bernie, who accepts Griffin's friendship. The animals then tell Griffin that Kate is heading to the airport. With the help of Bernie, Griffin manages to catch up with Kate and confesses his love for her. Six months later, Griffin and Kate are back working at the zoo and Bernie is now living in a new enclosure where he gets a great view of the city.
The movie has its funny moments and can be considered a slapstick of sorts with most of the actors involved in ‘clumsy stunts’ that intend to make the audience laugh, especially the kids. But considering that the plot is mostly about dating and involves some double-edged jokes, I am not sure though if the kids would be fully engaged in this movie. Well, I guess that explains why my daughter stopped watching it after just a few minutes. I still love the effects though – of the animals talking and the voices used such a stellar line-up – with Stallone, Cher, Adam Sandler, Nick Nolte, among others. It was good for a few laughs and to keep my mind off anything else for a few hours.
[photo grabbed from IMDB]
Saturday, March 03, 2012
FAMILY PICNIC @ TAGAYTAY
We had initially planned this to be our treat for Inang’s birthday but she doesn’t want to go on the exact date of her birthday since she wanted to have a small salo-salo at home for her friends and relatives who may be coming over to visit. So the event was held on my birthday weekend and it became my birthday treat instead! Well, the day before I was busy doing Kaye’s project and then cooking chicken/pork adobo plus carbonara for our baon. We left immediately for BP after we finished cooking and eating our own dinner. Upon arrival at BP, we did more cooking including the rice so that it was already quite late when we all finally slept.
The next day, we were up early at around 3:30 am so that we could all take our baths and pack our baon for the picnic. There was a bit of a problem because the van we rented thru Ega was late. It turns out he was still sleeping and definitely had a hangover from a drinking session last night, oh no! The question then running thru everyone’s minds was - could he even drive at all???
But thankfully, he was OK after awhile and we were able to leave at around 5am. Well, the trip going to Tagaytay was supposed to be short (about less than two hours if coming from our office at QC) but this time, however, our trip took us more than three hours. It turns out that Ega’s van wasn’t functioning properly and it overheated in the middle of the expressway…WTF?!? Good thing, it was able to run after just a short while or else we’d have to pay a fortune on PNCC’s exorbitant towing fees! Then, Ega doesn’t also know the right exit to take, so we had to wait for them and they ended up taking a more circuitous route after wrongly exiting at Alabang.
Finally, we arrived at the Picnic Grove and we settled in on one of the big cottages there. We started to serve the prepared food so that we can all eat breakfast na of adobo, rice, boiled eggs, and the carbonara. There was also puto (biko and kutsinta) or bread with cheezwhiz and tuna spread. After eating, the kids went off for some horse-back riding. The others decided to explore and hike around the place to shed off what they had just eaten. The kids wanted to ride the zipline but the fees increased this year and so most were hesitant to just drop PhP400.00 for just a few minutes of thrill. Oh well, I would’ve wanted them to have that experience but I don’t have any more to spend since I already spent a lot on gasoline and the food. So, the kids just decided to while away the time playing on the grass. While the oldies just lounged around the cottage or slept on the wooden stools. Good thing I bought a heavy blanket so they had something to lay down on.
After the kids (and even some of the grownups!) had their fill of the horse, they had pictures taken with a huge live snake and then again had wacky shots with Taal lake in the background. Afterwards, they went back to the cottage and had some lunch. Our lunch was inihaw BBQ and hotdogs (courtesy of Allan) and the inihaw bangus which I bought from Vanmicks the other day. After eating, the kids just played on the grass and took pictures. They also tried to fly a kite but I wasn’t sure if the kite was sub-standard or if it was the kite-flyers fault. The adults meanwhile continued resting – some on the grass, while the others stayed in the cottage. It was indeed a very nice way to spend the day – just resting and enjoying the nice cool weather of Tagaytay. Even if there wasn’t much to do, the kids still had fun playing with each other in the very wide open area of Picnic Grove. While the adults just sat in their own corner to chat. We decided to leave early at around 3pm but as luck would have it, Ega’s van won’t start again…oh dear! This would surely be the last time we’ll borrow his van. It’s such a trip bummer! Instead of being able to visit more places like the Residence Inn zoo, the Pink sisters convent (for Inang) and People’s Park, we ended up just visiting Maryridge convent for their ube and buko pie pasalubong and the fruit stands to bring home some fruits. Oh well, I hope next time we’ll have better travelling provisions so that we’ll be able to enjoy more what Tagaytay had to offer.
The next day, we were up early at around 3:30 am so that we could all take our baths and pack our baon for the picnic. There was a bit of a problem because the van we rented thru Ega was late. It turns out he was still sleeping and definitely had a hangover from a drinking session last night, oh no! The question then running thru everyone’s minds was - could he even drive at all???
But thankfully, he was OK after awhile and we were able to leave at around 5am. Well, the trip going to Tagaytay was supposed to be short (about less than two hours if coming from our office at QC) but this time, however, our trip took us more than three hours. It turns out that Ega’s van wasn’t functioning properly and it overheated in the middle of the expressway…WTF?!? Good thing, it was able to run after just a short while or else we’d have to pay a fortune on PNCC’s exorbitant towing fees! Then, Ega doesn’t also know the right exit to take, so we had to wait for them and they ended up taking a more circuitous route after wrongly exiting at Alabang.
Finally, we arrived at the Picnic Grove and we settled in on one of the big cottages there. We started to serve the prepared food so that we can all eat breakfast na of adobo, rice, boiled eggs, and the carbonara. There was also puto (biko and kutsinta) or bread with cheezwhiz and tuna spread. After eating, the kids went off for some horse-back riding. The others decided to explore and hike around the place to shed off what they had just eaten. The kids wanted to ride the zipline but the fees increased this year and so most were hesitant to just drop PhP400.00 for just a few minutes of thrill. Oh well, I would’ve wanted them to have that experience but I don’t have any more to spend since I already spent a lot on gasoline and the food. So, the kids just decided to while away the time playing on the grass. While the oldies just lounged around the cottage or slept on the wooden stools. Good thing I bought a heavy blanket so they had something to lay down on.
After the kids (and even some of the grownups!) had their fill of the horse, they had pictures taken with a huge live snake and then again had wacky shots with Taal lake in the background. Afterwards, they went back to the cottage and had some lunch. Our lunch was inihaw BBQ and hotdogs (courtesy of Allan) and the inihaw bangus which I bought from Vanmicks the other day. After eating, the kids just played on the grass and took pictures. They also tried to fly a kite but I wasn’t sure if the kite was sub-standard or if it was the kite-flyers fault. The adults meanwhile continued resting – some on the grass, while the others stayed in the cottage. It was indeed a very nice way to spend the day – just resting and enjoying the nice cool weather of Tagaytay. Even if there wasn’t much to do, the kids still had fun playing with each other in the very wide open area of Picnic Grove. While the adults just sat in their own corner to chat. We decided to leave early at around 3pm but as luck would have it, Ega’s van won’t start again…oh dear! This would surely be the last time we’ll borrow his van. It’s such a trip bummer! Instead of being able to visit more places like the Residence Inn zoo, the Pink sisters convent (for Inang) and People’s Park, we ended up just visiting Maryridge convent for their ube and buko pie pasalubong and the fruit stands to bring home some fruits. Oh well, I hope next time we’ll have better travelling provisions so that we’ll be able to enjoy more what Tagaytay had to offer.
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