KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 37 – Chicken and potatoes in creamy cheese

The kids are at school for exams so it is just me and the hubby for lunch (the hubby’s sis-in-law went home to be with her family). The kids will be arriving a bit later so I cooked something a little extra special which they may eat as a snack when they get home. I picked a dish which I am sure they will love – it had cheese! And I guess that’s all that truly matters to my kids - they love anything with cheese! The recipe was borrowed from Connie’s over at the Casa Veneracion blog so you may just browse her website for it. Thank you Ms. Connie for another wonderful recipe which my kids truly enjoyed!!!








P.S. So sorry about the quality of the pics, I only use my phone camera.

EXAM DAY TODAY FOR MAAP!

Today, I got up super early because it’s D-DAY for my son and his two friends who will be taking the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) examinations scheduled at 6 am at the Rizal High School in Pasig City. By 3:30am, I was finished cooking breakfast so I woke up the boys so they could bathe one after the other and eat breakfast before we all left (with my daughter in tow) at around 4:15 am. We were early because there wasn’t much traffic (at such an ungodly hour that is to be expected!) But that’s OK since there were already many students milling around the school building where the test will be held and so after buying them bottled water, we left them with the hope that they all do good on the exam so that they would go to MAAP together.

Meanwhile, off we went to Papa’s condo in Makati to while away the time as we wait for my son to finish his exam. Expectedly, Papa was already out even at 6am since its golf day today! Good thing Ateng was already awake and so we raided their ref and she rustled up some breakfast for us to eat. After eating, Jun slept a bit while I just chatted with the others while waiting for my sisters to arrive. We left at around 9 am and by then I woke up the hubby so he could come with us to Resorts World.

We watched the preview for the play – Sound of Music and I was surprised that my daughter enjoyed it! While the other kids did not, in fact, she asked if we could watch the play in full, but I saw the prices were sky high so I guess we won’t be able to afford it. Unless of course we would be able to get free tickets! After the preview, we ate our lunch at McDonalds then had a quick tour of the mall and even the casino before going back to the condo by 1:30 pm. The other cousins soon arrived in a while and we had a fun time eating pizza and chips with delish dips. Then, when it seemed we had no plans of leaving yet, Papa ordered Savory chicken for our dinner. We finally left the condo at 9pm, dropped my sisters off at Project 4 and the kids at Maryland so that we were able to go home at 11 but still it was a fun weekend well spent.

NEW BUNNIES…FOR SALE!

It is exactly one month since our new bunnies were born and I’m very sad to say that one more died a week after they were born so we’re now down to just five bunnies. But thankfully all of them are quite healthy and are eating quite a lot already so I believe it’s high time we dispose of them once again. Just too bad for us because they’re all so cute and we have grown quite attached to them already. Anyway, we decided to sell them this time so that we’ll have some money to continue buying feeds for their parents – Whitey and Brownie. I just wish someone would buy them. I asked at a pet shop at Robinson’s recently and they say they’re selling bunnies for 450 a pair - what??? That much??? I guess we’d just be selling ours for only 300 a pair or even 200 – that’s a reasonable enough amount, don’t you think?

NEW CABINET PROJECT

Today, I was surprised when the hubby arrived after buying some wood and begin another cabinet project for the kitchen. Last year, he started to make a cabinet for my son (I think it was around July) but when he had a huge gash on his right hand that required more than ten stitches (while he was playing with the cutter), I guess the hubby had a bit of a trauma and had refused to do anything at all that was related to carpentry. Well, that’s just what I thought we never really talked about it though. He just stopped making anything wooden after that.

Well, that was until last week when I mentioned to him that the kitchen needed some redecorating, for instance, we need a new cabinet so that I would be able to fix some of the things that are just stocked underneath the sink – like the turbo broiler, the rice cooker, the blender and some pots and pans that are longing to be displayed. I wanted some new cabinets for under the sink too but I don’t think we already have the money to commission someone to do that for us. So I guess I’ll just have to wait until we have more money to spend. Meantime, I am thankful that the hubby has returned to carpentry once again and this has kept him busy puttering about in the garage with his tools and his paints. He keeps me awake in the afternoons with his banging and his electric grinder but I’m happy I would have a new cabinet soon.

Here’s a picture of the cabinet he made for my son last year. And the cabinet he has been doing for the last 2 days … I will post more pics once the kitchen cabinet is completed!

Oh No! No more Spiral!?!?

One of the places worst hit by Typhoon Pedring was Metro Manila, particularly those places near the Baywalk area or near the Manila Bay. At the time of Pedring’s wrath, we were ‘trapped’ in Tagaytay to facilitate a seminar-workshop for the office. So we were unaware of the havoc that Pedring was then wreaking across the country. It was only much later when we saw in the news what really happened. We saw Roxas Boulevard looking like a huge river so some famous establishments along it were expectedly also flooded – like the US Embassy and our favorite hotel – Sofitel! It’s like Manila Bay was trying to reclaim the sea that was originally part of it.

From the news feeds, we saw Sofitel’s pools totally flooded and what’s even worse – Spiral (its famous buffet resto) was totally destroyed. The people they interviewed claimed that huge waves crashed towards the hotel and so its glass walls just broke open and all their state-of-the-art kitchen equipment and wall-to-wall carpeting was just damaged by the sea water – oh no! Later on, when I was finally able to talk to my aunt she says even their entire offices (located in the basement) were affected. Good thing, though, that her car was saved when it was taken by the valet service to higher ground before the floods reached the parking lot. They said everything was just so unexpected and happened so fast so they didn’t have time to save much else. Their primary concern was the safety of their hotel guests so they immediately evacuated them since they had to cut the power off lest someone die of electrocution.

But I guess all of these would be rebuilt soon. My aunt says they’d be closing Spiral for good – and from its ashes a new restaurant shall be born. I just hope it would be as good or even surpass the old one! Go…go…go Sofitel! I hope you’ll be good as new the next time we go for a visit!

A VISIT TO PINK SISTERS

We have been to Tagaytay for countless times already and we have probably visited most of the popular sites there (although not all of it) but this time around I made it a point to go visit the Pink Sisters chapel. My visit there was actually not without a hidden agenda. You see my son is entering college next year and I was hoping and praying that he would pass the entrance test at the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) in Bataan. Hence, I decided to seek divine intervention from the Pink Sisters of Tagaytay. We left early to hear mass and it was such an eerie and awesome experience being there. The sisters were cloistered at the front pews and they were separated from the churchgoers with railings (almost like a prison) but I guess that just shows how protected they are from the outside world.

After the mass, the others went out to take a look at the pretty surroundings while I went to the prayer area to write down my special petition. I enclosed some money which I explained to be not meant as a bribe but rather a way to seek some kind of favor, a means for them to sustain their activities as they go about being an inspiration for others. I shed some tears as I wrote my special intention because I truly want so badly for my son to enter MAAP. I vowed to the Pink Sisters of Tagaytay to return whenever I can (each year if possible) to give them some sort of donation to show my appreciation. I have been praying long and hard for this, I just hope that my son also does his part and do his best on the entrance tests.

FIELDTRIP @ ENCHANTED KINGDOM

I got up early today at 3:15 am because it’s the day my daughter had been waiting for – it’s their fieldtrip to Enchanted Kingdom! After I finished fixing our baon (which I pre-cooked last night!), I woke her up and we took a bath. Then, by 4:30 I awakened the hubby so he could take us to school. Thirty minutes later, we were leaving the VMS campus and were on our way to our first stop, Kulturang Pilipino somewhere near the Luneta compound. The place is really a fun place for kids since they would get to know about Philippine dances, songs, history, artifacts and even values. It was a bit small though so the students had to come in by batches and wait for their turn at each of the rooms that showed them a bit about our culture.













Next stop was the Light and Sound museum at the Rizal park, the only problem though was that it was broad daylight so the students weren’t able to appreciate the real show. There was only a tour guide who narrated the final events of Jose Rizal’s life including the final gunshot that killed him. It was around 11 when we finally left for Nuvali where the kids (and parents) had lunch (most of us ate at the bus since it was cooler) and only went down to use the restroom, visit the tiangge and check out the rest of the place. There were many fishes which the kids had fun feeding. By 1pm, the buses rolled off to go to the main highlight of their fieldtrip – Enchanted Kingdom!







But alas! Despite all their excitement it seems these girls are not really so adventurous after all! Because they preferred to ride the more conventional rides and wouldn’t dare to take on the more exciting ones. But I did not pressure them since it’s their field trip after all and so it is their wishes that should be followed. The girls decided to go and watch RIALTO first, a 3D type of moviehouse that has moving chairs to enhance the experience that the viewers are actually not just watching the movie but in the movie itself, well, almost! The movie that was currently showing then was Happy Feet and it was truly a riveting and jolting experience but still short since it lasted all of twelve minutes and yet we waited almost an hour in line to get inside. But then, I guess we didn’t have much choice since all the other rides have the same kind of long lines. The next ride they decided on was the Up, Up and Away. Afterwards, they went on a carousel ride and then ate some snacks at the food court there. We wanted to ride the ferris wheel also but there was just no more time since we need to get back to the bus already.








I guess we wasted too much time trying to decide which ride to take; trying to find something they would all like – others want the bump car but the others don’t; some want to ride the Roller Skater – which is a mini roller coaster actually but the others don’t; even the Giant Ferris wheel and Anchor’s Away were shunned by the kids, they think it was boring! I guess the kids failed to take advantage of the ride all you can ticket that they bought. Besides, all the other rides were not allowed to them like the Rio Grande, Jungle Log Jam, Space Shuttle Max and the Extreme Tower Ride. Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t have lifted my hopes up. Maybe when my daughter is a bit older we could go back and enjoy all those other rides we failed to take. That is, if I am not yet too old to ride!

Kitchen misadventure series 36 – Mac and cheese for baon…why not?

Today, I decided to wake up earlier than usual because I wanted to cook something special for my kids’ baon – no there’s no special occasion, it’s not anybody’s birthday or anniversary - I just wanted to cook mac and cheese -that’s all! The recipe I used was a very basic one – I just boiled the pasta in water first. Then, while I was waiting I cooked the sauce – some basic red sauce recipe wherein I used some leftover ham and corned beef sautéed in garlic and onions before adding the spaghetti sauce. It took me a bit longer than usual though to finish cooking because there were just so many things I needed to do for the mac and cheese – like grate some cheese, chop onions and garlic, boil the pasta, etc. But I guess it would be well worth the effort knowing the happy surprise in my daughter’s face when she sees her baon!

MS UNIVERSE 2011 – Our bet made it to the top 5!

We spent the entire morning today just glued to the TV to watch Shamcey Supsup as she vies for the Miss Universe crown. Admittedly, the country is filled with citizens just waiting for the time when the Philippines will win another Miss Universe crown and I am one of those hoping against hope that Shamcey will be the one to finally break the lull. After all, she is beauty and brains rolled into one. But, despite being among the crowd favorites and despite her straight English and perfectly acceptable answer during the Q and A, she only got the 3rd runner-up crown - why oh why???

I think her answer was great! She stood by her beliefs and proudly pronounced that God comes first in her life. Well, the Philippines being a predominantly Catholic nation, that should be understandable to all, even the judges. But I guess they didn’t see it that way. The idea that Shamcey would impose her religion on the person she loved probably did not sit well with them. I guess they would have wanted her answer to be more on respecting the religion of the other and accepting the person you love for what they are, but hey that’s her belief! She should not have been judged on how she answered but rather on how she remained calm and collected while answering the very very difficult question they asked her. Oh well, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. What matters is that Shamcey once again made it to the Top 5! The Filipinos have shown (thru Shamcey’s victory) that we truly are indeed among the world’s most beautiful women! We’re so proud of you Shamcey!

Kitchen misadventure series 35 – Chicken curry

Here’s another favorite comfort food, which thankfully my son also shares. My daughter has not developed a taste for it yet since she says it’s a bit spicy but eventually I hope she’d like it. The hubby, however, doesn’t like it so I am only able to cook this dish for the kids baon (and mine of course!) The recipe is actually very basic – I just sautéed the chicken in ginger, onion and garlic then let it simmer until cooked. Then you add the curry and some patis for seasoning, milk or gata (whichever is available) and the carrots and potatoes. Let everything simmer for a bit longer until the vegetables are cooked and voila! Chicken curry!

MONA LISA SMILE – a film review

[photo/poster grabbed from IMDB]

Finally, here is one good movie about teachers – totally unlike Bad teacher, since this movie is about Kate Watson, an art teacher who had a very modern outlook and wished to imbue her passion not just for art but in life to her mostly conventional and traditional students of Wellesley College. Katherine soon learns that her students have memorized her entire syllabus through their textbooks so she decides to disregard her lesson plan and teach them in unconventional ways to let them start thinking for themselves. She gets into a conflict with some of her students and their parents not just for her teaching methods but for her beliefs that a girl should strive for more in life than just wait for the right man to marry.

The movie kinda reminded me of another film – Dead Poet’s society but this time the students are all girls including their teacher. But the similarity ends there since their storyline is totally different. Mona Lisa Smile was set in the 50s and it tackled the women’s need to gain more academic freedom and independence. And with a progressive teacher like Watson, they eventually manage to think out of the box, well, most of them. Betty (Kirsten Dunst) is highly conservative and failed to understand why Watson remains unmarried and is pushing her students to think beyond marriage and embark on ‘careers’ of their own. When her marriage fails near the end of the movie, she realizes that marriage isn’t everything and decided to pursue a law degree and enroll in Yale.

Joan (Julie Stiles), another student, is early on seen to have been influenced positively by Watson and inspires her to pursue a degree in Yale law school where she is eventually accepted. But in the end she elopes with her fiancée and instead asks Watson for understanding and to respect her choice. Watson is also shown here with an ex-boyfriend who flies in from California to propose marriage but she declines since she feels she doesn’t love him enough. Then, there’s another Italian teacher whom Watson starts dating but when she discovers that he continues to have affairs with his students and that he lied about being in the war, she breaks up with him.

In the end, the school realizes that Katherine’s course has become popular with students and asks her to return next year but imposes conditions for her to follow. So she decides to leave and explore Europe by herself. This is a good ending since it showed how she is unwilling to compromise her principles. Her students all cry upon seeing her leaving but she still dashes off, leaving them with her graceful Mona Lisa smile. Indeed, this is one movie that would make you smile and believe that there are still wonderful teachers out there like Katherine Watson. In the movie, however, the term Mona Lisa smile is made to refer to how the women in the 50s conspire to hide the lies and frustrations that they have in life - outwardly smiling even if deep inside they are hurting and totally unhappy with their lives.

NEW KITS FROM WHITEY (AGAIN!)

Since we bought the bunnies last year (around August), Whitey had given birth three times already - imagine that? Spaced three months apart, Whitey gave birth to five kits on her first pregnancy, then three on her second and you won’t believe this - eight kits this time around. I first heard her scratching wildly inside her cage at around 4:30 am so I went down and saw that she was once again already molting. I just made a makeshift nest for her using an old shoe box since her regular wooden box I found wet under the langka tree. I noticed a wide gash, though on Whitey’s left cheek, maybe she hurt herself while she was removing hair from her body to place inside the nest. I touched it a bit and saw it wasn’t bleeding and so I just let her be lest I agitate her further.

It was around 10am when Whitey started giving birth and at that time, Ace counted three kits all at the same time. I thought then that it would be the end but when we lifted her out of the box, it seems she was giving birth to one more, in fact, five more! But it was just too bad that two of them died quickly. I guess they were just too small when they came out – seemingly premature and unable to move so they can’t nurse properly. Or maybe mother rabbits have only six nipples??? I don’t really know, I never got around to checking but what really got me so excited was seeing Whitey give birth to eight new baby bunnies - hurrah for Whitey! Here are pics of her new babies.

P.S. Another one died a few more days later, so I guess it's now just down to five...

NEW LANGKA FOR 2011

It has been quite some time since we had seen any fruit from our langka tree. In fact, I don’t recall having any fruit at all this year. Imagine, it is only now that we are having another fruit after the langka gave us so many last year. I think it bore fruit twice last year and it had as much as 5 fruits each time so we didn’t know what to do with it! But thank God that the tree didn’t truly make ‘tampo’ because that’s what the oldies say when the trees stop bearing some fruits. Well, finally we have a new fruit from our tree, just one though for this particular tree and none yet from the other one. I just hope it gets ripe before Christmas so we would be able to use it for our sweets.

LINGGO NG WIKA @ VMS

Today I went on leave to watch my daughter’s presentation for their school’s Linggo ng Wika celebration. I gave her a bath, dressed her up and let her go with the schoolbus while I will just follow to bring her things since the program starts at 11 am. When I arrived at their school, she was anxiously waiting for me already at the gate and so I hurriedly dressed her up and made up her face before proceeding to their classroom. Then, I went down to the Grand Zenith to wait for the program to start. They performed ninth so I was unable to leave to go to the canteen and buy some food. Instead, I waited till they were finished performing before I fed her some lunch. She too can’t leave their place in line until their performance is over. I was unable to appreciate their performance this year because they used a folk dance from Bohol. In fact, even their music wasn’t something that everyone would recognize so it got a bit boring after a while. But I still stayed behind to watch all the presentations. Kaye and I left after the program ended and we went straight home, just bought ice cream at Palmera and some snacks. Here are some pictures of her and some classmates in their colorful costumes.

BRINGING BUNNY TO THE VET

It’s now Bunny’s turn at the vet and I do hope he gets cured soon. He’s been sick for so long. I would have wanted to have him injected since June but the budget and schedule does not allow it. During the rare times that we are at home, it seems we do not have any extra money to bring him to the vet and now finally, we had the time and the money to do so. I just hope he gets back to his old form soon enough.










P.S. Too bad that I was unable to get a pic of Bunny when he was finally cured of his mites. The last pic was taken Sept 9, about two weeks after he was vaccinated and he is healing here quite nicely. We brought him to BP when we went home last Sept 24 and our nephew, who resides in Tondo, asked for a rabbit and we decided to give Bunny to him since there were new kits that needed to be housed in Bunny’s old cage. Now I won’t be able to see him again… boohoo!

MY DAUGHTER’S FAVORITE BREAKFAST

Everyone in our family has a different breakfast favorite – my husband likes dried fish (daing, tinapa or dilis) with scrambled eggs in tomatoes while my son, likes tocino or luncheon meat with fried eggs. My daughter, on the other hand, enjoys bacon so much! But I refrain from serving it to her every day, in fact; I only buy it once every two weeks since I know very well that processed meat is just bad for the health. I would have shunned it altogether but I can’t since it’s only very rarely that she eats with much gusto like when her baon or breakfast is bacon. So I have no choice until I can find a better and healthier alternative, I guess I have to continue serving her some bacon every two weeks or so.

THE ORPHAN - A movie review

[photo grabbed from IMDB]

Creepy - that’s one apt word that would fully describe this movie! But I got interested to watch it after seeing the movie listed as one of the scariest movies of all times. It was not really scary in the real sense of the word but rather disturbing, especially if it is something that would happen to you or to someone you care about. The movie is top billed by a young girl named Esther who was adopted by a young couple, Kate and Jon. They already have two children – Danny and a deaf-mute girl named Max. But still the couple opted to adopt a child so that Kate could cope with the death of their last child, who was stillborn. Kate became an alcoholic and had been seeing a therapist who also encouraged them to adopt so that Kate could get over the loss of her daughter.

The next scene shows Jon and Kate at an orphanage for girls and there they meet and immediately fall in love with Esther. They soon take Esther home and find that Max takes an instant liking to her new sister while Danny remains aloof and even asked why she dresses differently. A celebration at home is held to welcome Esther and she is entered in the same school as Danny. At home, Kate begins to sense something different about Esther – while taking a bath she locks her doors though Kate said they don’t lock doors in the house, particularly bathrooms. But Esther says she doesn’t want anyone walking in while she is in the bathroom and so she says she will just sing for Kate to let her know she’s okay. Kate also found an old bible with a photo of a man inside, hidden in Esther’s drawer.

Meanwhile, at school Esther’s book is purposefully knocked off by Danny and as she bends to pick it up, another girl, Brenda tries to remove the ribbon at her neck and she ends up screaming and kicking in anger. The next day, at home during piano lessons with Kate, she tries to encourage Esther to talk about what happened but she says there was nothing to talk about. Then, another incident is shown with Esther pushing the girl Brenda off the slide at the neighborhood park. Max saw what she did but did not tell anyone and merely said the girl slipped because she was afraid of Esther.

A few days later, Sister Abigail from the orphanage comes to visit after learning about the incident at the park. She tells them that details about Esther’s past have remained a mystery even to them so they should try to find out more about her past. Esther panics and so with Max’s help she kills Sister Abigail with a hammer and they push her body off the hill. Afterwards, they change out of their bloody clothes in Danny’s tree house. Danny, hiding in the bushes, sees them going out of the tree house. Esther sees him but doesn’t make a move. While he slept, Esther visits him in bed and holds a cutter blade to his throat to ask what he saw. But he said he saw nothing so she threatens to castrate him if he tells anyone.

The next day when Kate dropped Danny and Esther at their school, Esther releases the car’s brakes with Max still strapped in her seat. Kate runs after the vehicle as it rolls down the hill but she is unable to stop it. Finally, the car bumps into a huge pile of snow and she is able to retrieve Max unharmed. Jon and Kate get into an argument about what happened but Kate insists she put the car brake on. Jon finally relents and lets Esther see a psychiatrist but surprisingly she was able to make the psychiatrist believe that it was Kate who had trouble accepting her.

In the next scene, Jon is seen waking up Esther to bring her to the dentist but Esther refuses to go and instead said she wants to spend the day with Jon. Jon allowed her to paint by his side while he works (as an architect). Esther says she has waited a long time for a father like Jon and that she feels Kate doesn’t love her. Jon suggested that she do something nice for Kate. So at dinner time, Esther presents Kate with a surprise – cut white roses from Jessica’s garden – and Kate in her fury grabs Esther by the arm. Jon arrives and sees Esther rushing off crying while Kate crumples to the floor with the roses in her hand. That night, Esther sneaks into the tool shed and places her arm in a vice to break it. Then, she goes to bed and cries for Jon who rushes to comfort her and bring her to the doctor. He sleeps with Esther in their bed while Kate, still insisting that she didn’t grab her that hard, slept downstairs on the sofa.

A few days later, Jon confronts Kate with Dr. Browning about her going back to drinking. She denies it and he countered by showing two empty wine bottles. Kate insists she did not drink them but poured the wine down the sink. But Jon was not inclined to believe her and threatened to divorce her if she does not go to rehab. Meanwhile, Danny has gotten tired of always being in fear of Esther so he decides to do something about it. He asked Max what she knew and so Max showed him drawings of what happened to Brenda, Sister Abigail and the car accident. She even told Danny that the bloody clothes and hammer she used were in his tree house. They vowed to get the evidence to convince their parents about Esther so she can finally be locked away. Their only problem was that Esther overheard them.

So when Danny sneaks into the tree house to find the hammer and clothes, Esther suddenly appears behind him. She pours gasoline over the ‘evidence’, locks Danny inside the tree house and lights a match. Danny crawls out the window and screams for Kate but she doesn’t hear him. The tree house crumbles beneath him leaving him broken and unconscious but still alive. They bring him to the hospital and while Jon and Kate were talking with the doctor, Esther sneaks into Danny’s room to try to kill him. But the nurses were alerted when Danny’s heart flat lined so they rush into his room to revive him. Kate sees Esther inside the room and screams at her to stay away. Kate is sedated and is confined in the hospital with Danny. Jon decides to bring the girls home.

At the hospital, Kate receives a call from the Saarne Institute in Estonia where Esther was last held. It turns out that Saarne Institute is not an orphanage after all but a mental institution. The Doctor Varava she talked to further revealed that Esther wasn’t a nine year old girl but a 33-year old woman named Leena Klammer. She was one of their most violent patients hence the bruises from her straitjacket in her wrists and neck (now Kate knows why she wears those ribbons all the time). Meantime, at the house Esther puts on tons of makeup and wears a revealing outfit to try to comfort Jon. Jon, who had been drinking sobs openly to her and tells her of his worries. But when she comes on to him and tells him that she loves him, Jon snaps out of his stupor and tells her to go back to her room.

Kate escapes from the hospital to try to rescue her family. Jon goes off to search for Esther in her room and is horrified to see hidden beneath her paintings so much scenes of sex and violence. Esther then turns out all the lights in the house and stabs Jon. Max saw everything so she runs off and hides in the greenhouse. Kate arrives and breaks down upon seeing Jon dead. But she continues to search for Max. Kate ends up in the roof of the greenhouse and when she sees Esther about to discover Max she screams and so Esther shoots her instead. She falls on top of Esther who is rendered unconscious. When Kate wakes up, she takes Max to the pond and they see cops enter the house. But when the cops reach the greenhouse, Esther’s body can’t be found. It seems she followed them to the pond and she then stabs Kate with a knife. Max gets Esther’s gun and fires but she hits the pond so the two fall into the water. They continue to wrestle in the water and as Kate climbs up, Esther holds on to her leg pleading with her to not let her die. Kate kicks her hard and she sinks down into the water as Kate and Max escape.

Now for the review – the movie was beautifully done – particularly with the almost natural performance rendered by the child/woman Esther. But this movie is definitely not for kids because of its ‘anti-adoption’ theme and dangerous imitable behavior. The violence shown against and by the children in the movie is shocking and brutal. This movie was just totally, totally disturbing …one that could chill and thrill at the same time. Would I watch this movie with my kids, well I already did but I just need to properly guide them that such kind of behavior is not something to be emulated.

GALAXY TAB OR LENOVO NETBOOK???

I joined some officemates today who went to SM North Edsa to buy a laptop. I went with them during lunch hour so I could also browse and see if there’s anything I want for Christmas. Well, I saw not one but two that I liked and since I can’t afford both of them, I have to decide what I really want to buy. I first saw the HP 110 netbook on sale at a newspaper ad they put out about a month ago. It was priced at only 17K and at the time, I figured it was already a reasonable buy. But when my officemate changed his mind and decided to buy a Lenovo laptop instead of a netbook, I saw this stylish red Lenovo netbook priced at just 19K but had definitely higher specs than the HP and so I changed my mind too! Here’s a quick look at their specs:

Lenovo Ideapad S100 106722U Specifications

Operating System: Windows 7 Starter
Processor: Intel Atom N455 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)
Chipset: Mobile Intel NM10 Express
Memory: 1GB DDR3 RAM (1 slot, SODIMM 204-pin, Max 2GB)
Storage: 250GB HDD (5400 rpm)
Display: 10.1 inch WSVGA VibrantView LED-backlit (glossy screen)
Display Resolution: 1024 x 600
Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 (integrated graphics)
Audio: Integrated Sound Card
Built-in digital microphone
Speaker 1.5W x 2 speakers
Webcam: 0.3 megapixel
Ethernet LAN: 10/100 Fast Ethernet
Wireless LAN: Wireless-N (802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Memory Card Reader: MultiMedia Card (MMC)
Secure Digital (SD)
Ports: VGA for connecting to an external monitor
3 USB 2.0 ports
RJ45 LAN port
1 x 3.5mm Headphone/Microphone Combo jack
Keyboard and Touchpad: 98% full-size AccuType keyboard with individual rounded keys
for comfortable and accurate typing and touchpad
Dimensions (W x D x H): 10.6″ x 6.6″ x 0.6~1.1″
Weight: 2.7 lbs. (1.22 kg)
Power/Battery: 6-cell 48Wh Lithium-Ion Battery, up to 5 hours

HP MINI NOTEBOOK 110

Processor - 1.66 GHz Intel Atom Processor N280
Cache - 512 KB Level 2 cache
Memory - 1024MB (1 x 1024MB)
Memory Max - Up to 2GB
Video Graphics - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Hard Drive - 160 GB (4200 rpm) 1.8"
Display - 10.2” Diagonal WSVGA HP Brightview Infinity Display w/ Built-in Camera and
Microphone
Fax/ Model Network Card - High speed 56K modem 10/100 LAN
Wireless Connectivity - 802.11b/g WLAN
Bluetooth
Audio - Integrated Intel High Definition Audio
External Ports:
• 3 USB 2.0
• RJ-45
• Headphone-out/Microphone in combo jack
• Expansion Port
• AC adapter
Weight - 1.11 kg (2.89 lbs)
Operating System - Genuine Windows XP home

My REAL PROBLEM came when I saw the 7-inch Galaxy tab and boy, oh boy! There was a product on display at the Samsung center and I just enjoyed fiddling with it and playing Angry Birds. I also saw that it had an e-book reader and word apps like word, excel and powerpoint – just what I need! But the problem is the price – it costs a whopping 25K coz I wanted the 3g version not just the wifi! Oh dear, I’m gonna have to save up some more so I would be able to buy this on December, otherwise this is a gonna be a real problem for me! I hope the office gives us a hefty bonus or else all my dreams would be --- pfft!

SINUS ARRYTHMIA AND UTI AGAIN!?!

Yesterday, I received my results from the APE (Annual Physical Exam) that we had just a week ago and to tell you frankly I wasn’t quite surprised with the results. I had UTI again, with the pus cell count just TMTC (too many to count!) I was even diagnosed to drink some medicines for a week before going back to the doctor again to have my urine rechecked if there’s any improvement. Meanwhile, I searched the internet for some home remedies for UTI and found quite a few I could use – including herbal ones like sambong and banaba which I could regularly drink as tea. There was also cranberry juice, yogurt and Vitamin C. There were also certain foods to avoid like coffee, tea, chocolate (oh no!), peanuts, softdrinks, spicy food, cheese, processed sugar and flour, and spinach (but why???) But most of all, I need to drink 8-10 glasses of water per day, something I really need to monitor because if not, I tend to just drink during meals. So in essence I drink only 3 glasses per day, the others are coffee or choco drinks which do not really count at all! Oh dear, I truly need to make a serious effort to drink water regularly so that I can beat this UTI once and for all.

What got me a bit worried though was my ECG reading that I had sinus arrhythmia - what does that mean? My heart has a cold??? So I immediately searched the internet and was a bit calmed when I learned that it is just a normal occurrence since the heart may experience a regular increase in heart rate due to breathing or any other normal activity. Sinus, by the way, refers to the natural pacemaker of the heart or the sinus node. The heart beats in a normal regular rhythm when we sleep or when motionless. Hence, the term sinus arrhythmia refers to the lack of a regular/normal sinus rhythm or an abnormal heart rhythm. Therefore, it is not something to be worried about though I would rather have my ECG repeated, after all it’s for free, just to make sure that my heart is in tip-top shape.

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 34 – Steamed fish in olive oil and sweet and sour fish

Today for our lunch, I decided against cooking tilapia the usual way – simply frying them and serving a vegetable dish on the side. Instead, I opted to cook a healthier version of it via steaming with lots of garlic and ginger and a dollop of olive oil. The recipe for steamed fish (which I got from Pinoycooking rocks) called for some parsley but since I didn’t have any, I substituted onion leaves instead. I also used tilapia because I didn’t have maya-maya or any other bigger fleshy fish since it would just be for myself lang naman. For the rest of the family, I cooked sweet and sour tilapia.

For the sweet and sour tilapia, the fish was fried first in hot oil. Then I prepared the sauce by mixing together some vinegar, sugar, tomato sauce and salt. I also stir-fried some vegetables like onions, ginger, carrots, bell pepper and some onion leaves for garnish. (For the exact recipe search Pinoy cooking rocks) Then when all the fish had finished frying, just pour the sauce and the vegetables over the fish and serve at once.