A random mix of a post. I just started watching HBO's True Blood. We used to have a subscription to the channel but had it cancelled since we end up buying the dvds anyway. Thanks to Omz, who introduced Dino to an online source for tv shows. We just finished episode 1, will devour the next 3 soon.

Yesterday was Bindlestiff's potluck picnic in SF's McLaren park. It was great fun because it's always cool to be with our theater folks. No need for grand reasons, like a show or birthday, to gather. Well, it was some sort of holding on to summer fun. Except that the wind was at its fiercest, driving the point that it's the end of the season and we should have thought of optional venues for the bbq (the warm south, hello?).

The Aristocrat chicken was an almost disaster! I came close to cooking everything at home but Dino stopped me. Not that I had pyschic thoughts of the winds and the difficulty it would pose. I just didn't want to bother working the whole time we're out there. Dino made a good point though, the actual grilling is part of a true picnic experience. So we compromised, I was to pre-cook the meat in the oven and he would be bbq-ing them to perfection at the event.
The charcoal heat was too much and it burned some of the chicken pieces quite quickly. The wind was of course the enemy, blowing ash everywhere and all over our cooking. Then we ran out of charcoal, and had to wait for folks who were bringing some to the park.

I didn't get to eat any of the bbq. Everyone liked it though and finished everything...so it was not a complete failure. What I focused on yesterday were the sweets! How I lost to the evil sugar.
-some carrot-y cupcakes topped with s'mores-like icing and sprinkled with choco shavings (Greg and Gemma)
-leche flan from Valerios (i don't know who's responsible)
-oven fresh chocolate chip cookies (Al Manalo)
-cantaloupe swimming in Hennesy (Kevin Correa)
-guinataan with tapioca and beans (Evelyn)

Man, it was freezing! Too bad for those like me, who didn't play basketball, soccer or dodge ball. Eating accounted for some physical movement in an attempt to generate more body warmth.

Julius D was there yesterday. We rarely see this guy and he surprised us (dino and me) with a late wedding present. He gave us the film negatives of the photos he took during our civil wedding 2 years ago, plus some contact sheets and scanned images on a dvd. He also gave us a giant print of one of his works- its a street scene of a child sleeping inside a tricycle. I cannot wait to have this properly framed and displayed in our home!

I love the pictures he took during the wedding. I told him over text message today that his photos took me back much more vividly to that special day. We already have a wedding album gifted to us by Mike Ricca and we're so thankful that Julius was able to capture another perspective of the event.






If I'm to interpret the body language, I was indeed a bundle of nerves. I held on to that bouquet for balance and security. Gosh, I was so fat then LOL! I loved that I was wearing my Lola's dress, although I had to wear a wide obi-like belt to play down the fact that it's oversized.


Under the SF City Hall dome. Julius was kinda spidey/ninja. I don't think anyone else had the idea to take the shot from this view.




I like how Diane Arbus this feels like.

Okay, let's get this out of the way. We saw Spring Awakening at the Curran Theater last night.

This is not a review.

I did not hate it.
I did not love it.

For those who loved it and have seen it more than once, and plan to see it a 3rd or 4th time, go right ahead. Whatever floats your boat, right? Read no further, it's up to you.

I'm not hating.
The musical does not warrant violent reactions from me. It does not deserve an all caps fuck you. Yes, because it's that bland and does not pose a threat of any kind.
Is it something so new and revolutionary and I am nothing but fearful of it? Meh. Hardly.

It is akin to a fat-free, sugarless vanilla jelly. Vanilla being the default of all default flavors. Jelly because however jiggly amusing or almost filling, still is insubstantial.

It reminds me of having a little puppy, not even a chihuahua cos that's feisty, trying to chew my finger but the baby hardly has sharp teeth. It ends up a micro massage, harmless and strangely soothing. I am more weird for thinking this, please don't assume the same of the play.

It is High School Musical with a bit of the OC that aimed high, went to Juilliard but didn't quite finish the course. Now it deliberately wants to flash some punk street cred but it hasn't shed the prestige completely to be labeled a dropout.

It's the little very well trained troupe that could. The child actor transitioning to older parts. Suddenly Harry Potter had to strip for Equus. The Jonas Brothers posing as a rock group. They play their instruments but I just don't believe it .
It's pretty with some talent...only that.

It's not truly sweet. Not truly funny. Not truly tragic.
The only character that stood out, I'm using the term loosely, had to die but even that didn't make an impact.

There's supposed to be sex, the idea of purity being smashed and authority being ridiculed. All I saw was a cliff note reenacted on stage.
Where's the rawness of the act? The flashing of the breasts and the writhing motion didn't do anything for me even as I sat on the 4th row. Give me that at least, the visceral, the titillating...it was all for nothing.

Is it rock? Yes,but only set to 6. We all know Spinal Top had it at 11. But anyway, blame Duncan Shiek who wrote all the music.
I am old and I'm trying to recall the details of why I know him. He had one popular song in the 90s and like the ticket to Spring Awakening, I bought it because it had a promise.
A little bit indie, a little bit emo...it's the rock shirt you didn't buy at the concert you didn't go to so you paid for it at Urban Outfitters.
It's coloring by numbers and I sat through it hoping they'd veer outside the lines.

It's just Not Quite. It's not even quite annoying so I finished it all the way to the end.
I had one and a half favorite songs. That half, I don't remember the words...only a few lines sung in discordant notes. The full song I liked was the final chorus only because "Okay, I can go home now."

ha-va-ee, some highlights

I think we went at the perfect time--End of mainland summer when kids are back in school and before winter,which is when tourists from the rest of the world rush to to the island.
The effects were most favorable for us: Short lines or none at all when we visited the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor (we've heard of 3 hour waiting time), short to zero wait for a table at restaurants; Waikiki was less crowded. Our friends described to us how crazy and packed it gets there during peak season.

Getting a rental car was a great call. Since there was relatively less number of tourists, street parking or traffic was not a problem at all. We hit up most friends-suggested food places in the north, east and south of Oahu. No great restaurants on the southwest side, our hotel location.

Not missing Sunday mass. The officiating priest was Filipino too. Although I was slightly uncomfortable when he asked visitors to stand (just Dino and me, as it was a very local church) and get lei-d.

Driving around each day. Hey, it looks like Manila! ...but cleaner.

Boots and Kimo's breakfast joint in Kailua. Dino has a default description for the best food he has ever tasted and it's "It is so good, you will forget your mother's name." I will follow it up with "You will forget yours."

Malasadas at Leonard's Bakery. Hot, fresh, soft, melts in your mouth doughnut without a hole...DEEP FRIED and covered in SUGAR. Yummmmmmmm. Who am I? I die.

Hawaii 3: luxury

Besides being able to travel to Hawaii, it was more than a luxury and privilege for us to not care about To Do lists, deadlines and deliverables. I had to learn this from Dino, of course.

The best parts of our Hawaii trip were the unplanned and spontaneous. We had friends who treated us to dinner three times and even took us to amazing places that were not on my list. We had enjoyed food and restaurants that were highly suggested to us thru Facebook and Twitter when we were already in Honolulu.

Sunrise woke us up ...we ate, swam and drove around whenever we pleased. A little background info about the place helped, but we didn't force ourselves to see the whole of Oahu like we were going to be tested at the end of the trip...like the success of the vacation hinged on having seen or done it all. And so we were never pressed for time. Our drives were most fun, and we just let the environment surprise and amaze us.

Although I'm quite proud that I knew a thing or two about Kamehameha, figured the east and west of H1, learned such expressions as da kine or the difference between Kona and trade winds. And VOG, instead of fog...we witnessed Honolulu as it was covered in volcanic haze.

It wasn't all paradise perfect. We had lost half a day trying to fix our GPS then eventually we discovered that our rental car's lighter/electronic plug was the one broken. This after having bought a car accessory at Wal-Mart, hoping that it would be the fix. We had to delay breakfast and lunch to get the car exchanged at the airport. Bad mood and high temper between us all of Tuesday morning, but that's not important. We didn't miss an appointment or a show and we went on with our day in Waikiki.

Hawaii 2: Tossing my To Do list

I easily thought that Dino was a douche bag for dismissing my list slash Hawaii Life Plan. What a jerk for making light of my well documented Comprehensive Strategy for the Enjoyment and Pleasurable Experience of the Northern Point of the Polynesia.

I ended up being the dork with an uncalled for thesis, bibliography and footnotes... and Dino was the cool dude who came late to class, not prepared at all.

BUT, I was the one who's unemployed and had much time to over analyze a vacation. In the same week that they launched the Large Hadron Collider, I got too caught up in the trip planning and felt as if it would be our only chance at Hawaii.

Dino works too hard and gets extremely focused on his job that all he wants for a free time is to be dumb, sans all pressure and the daily problem solving.

Sure, what is a vacation without seeking and exploring but I admitted later on that my mental preparation was a bit over the top. Too eager and worried about making it the perfect trip, I was creating too much expectation and less fun.

Hawaii 1: Having a To Do List

I read two Lonely Planet books (one on Hawaii, another on Oahu. Thanks to Lorna and Omz. I scored the books years ago, when they were getting rid of stuff before their move to LA) and one Rough Guide on Honolulu/Waikiki, which I bought a week before we left.
A mere five hour plane ride but more importantly, Hawaii is the middle point between where we live now and beloved Manila. The idea that we would be that close to the Philippines made me so excited.
I knew it wasn't going to be that strange or exotic as it's still a US territory but different enough that I enjoyed the research. I had written down notes on a yellow pad (two pages exactly) with what I wanted to do and all the places I'd see when we get to the island.

Dino on the other hand was too busy finishing his projects in EA and had no time to chat about Hawaii with me until it was time to pack. I suggested that he went over my list or read Rough Guide as it is the shortest of the three guide books. "On the plane," he said.

We could have been at the airport already or maybe it was the early morning before we left when Dino told me that the only thing he wanted to do in Hawaii was to not do anything at all. Well, not exactly nothing but he didn't want to bother with my list.

I, being a little anxious, recited to him all of my notes--- All including:

• what I was going to wear each day (versatile enough to get me through the beach and maybe a downtown restaurant at night; strategic pairing of clothing items so that it would be easy to dress down or layer)***

• what activities would appropriately match my outfit (you see, some clothing however light in concept, like a skirt, have the possibility of restricting physical movements, let's say hiking...especially if said outfit is paired with flat, gladiator sandals that don't offer much traction if one is to walk uphill, like on a volcanic crater or uneven terrain...) ***

• what time we should go to certain places (our hotel was outside the city and we had to consider travel time, traffic and such)

• when to bring my big, imposing, arrogant camera (considering the activities planned for the day, security factors if I needed to leave photo equipment in the car or at the beach)

• which part of the island is best to catch sunrise or sunset (friends have varied claims and convictions on this)

• which days to assign for swimming, meeting friends or doing the tourist activities

• when and where to buy souvenirs before flying home

*** seemingly dumb concerns but I've traveled enough to believe that one should really pack lightly, that a girl must avoid bringing her whole closet and not deal with unnecessary baggage weight without sacrificing aesthetics.


Dino's response to my dramatic litany: "Ehh...I just want to draw."

What about MY list? My handwritten list?
"Pearl Harbor, " was his choice just because I forced him to tell me what sounded interesting from my options.

"...I just want to relax. We're going to be on vacation."

head bang

So I had this migraine since morning. It's been two days since we got back from Hawaii and each time I woke up groggy + back and neck strained = horrible. Usually I would solve this bad equation with the food formula. It didn't apply today.
We tried to simulate an unforgettable breakfast in Kailua (the banana pancakes with macadamia nut sauce) by going to this place I found online called Original Pancake House. It was "meh."Nothing lived up to how they were appetizingly described in the website.

Basically their menu had all the right keywords except the macadamia sauce. They did have "Hawaiian Sauce," which we later found out to have too much of orange zest.


I didn't order the pancake for myself. The migraine ruled out working in the kitchen for me but I wanted Dino to have a nice first meal since he was going to have a very full Saturday of computer work.

I'm still avoiding certain kind of carbs so I had the spinach OMELET.

The cooking idea was as original as their spelling. The egg was mixed with what I presumed to be some kind of batter or cream, which made the egg dish very fluffy. I must have ordered the wrong kind though...the spinach was so thick, like they used a frozen slab of it and baked it with the rest of the egg.

Breakfast, fail. Headache, all sorts of wrong. At the very least I had food in my tummy before I popped my first Advil.

At 12:30pm I had to force myself to sleep. By 4pm I was awake and hungry again. I got up and made myself a quickie meal. All of a sudden Dino told me that we had dinner guests coming in at 7pm. This couple didn't confirm at all until they were on their way to San Jose from Sacramento. Then I had to rush and get them a present from the mall cos we failed to show up at their wedding day! Popped my second Advil.

Dinner went well. The pain pill kept me from any tendency to bang my head on the wall. I was wishing we could just stay home afterward but Dino had said yes to a birthday party in San Mateo. I have nothing against birthday parties but when it's in a club setting, yes yes yo. Third Advil.


Headache's at a minimum now. I still want to write, like about our Hawaii trip and such heavenly whatever. All day I've been HATING because of this headache and I thought I should enumerate the highlights of our vacation...like a diversion...cos I wouldn't want to OD on Advil...but it's kinda late already and I really want to wake up all rested and ache-free tomorrow. I have to drive to SF for the Treasure Island festival.

Hawaii details next time.

new

It's the first time I went to sleep without a wrist brace and woke up with no pain. Wow. I like that steroid shot. Now I understand why the doctor looked at me straight in the eye and said "We cannot give you this all the time. Only once every three months, IF needed."

owee

My new doctor is now convinced that I have tendonitis. At this point anyone could make the same guess.
Surgery was ruled out. Although I've had this annoying pain on my left wrist for almost 9 months, it is not extreme or debilitating. Steroid shot was offered and I said yes. Too bad for my Olympic hopes or for Tour de France.

It's only been hours since the injection. I can't differentiate the pain right now... if it's just the soreness from the needle or still the aching tendon. I took a nap earlier when I got home and didn't bother wearing my wrist brace...woke up to the usual pain.

Doctor said I'll be pain-free for 3 months. Hope he's right.

aristocrat

Due to the extreme yummy-ness of the subject matter, of which nothing was left, there are no pictures for this post.

Tonight I cooked the BEST BBQ chicken of my entire life. Strong words from the committee! Yep, I have never made a chicken dish so perfectly tasty until now. Thanks to a recipe that Dino got from one of his Twitter friends. Who knew Twitter could bring in something so practical and outstandingly delicious to our life?

So the back story: Most Pinoys here in the US think Max's fried chicken is THE epitome of chicken fried goodness back in the Philippines...well, there's the other side of the chicken spectrum (barbecue!) that was dominated by Aristocrat Restaurant during the 1980's.
Back then, Aristocrat was one of the most popular food destination for families in Manila. I distinctly remember most of our trips from the province to the big city would always include a stop at Aristocrat. (The other place was Kamayan, where appropriately you eat with your hands.)
I don't know if the restaurant is still alive now but before we left for the US, Aristocrat had already been relegated as a "relic" and one of those places that people only went back to for sentimental reasons.
They offered tons of dishes but to this day, their bbq chicken is still the stuff that pinoys like Dino and myself dream and get homesick about.

So here's how to make your own Aristocrat chicken. Let the reminiscing begin.

The chicken pieces need to be marinated for exactly 2 days and 2 nights in the following ingredients:

1 whole garlic head, crushed
2 teaspooon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoon soy sauce
4 tablespoon sugar
1 Sprite or 7-Up
10 calamansi (I used frozen pure calamansi juice- they came in little packs, preservative and sugar free; just approximate how much liquid 10 pieces of real calamansi would yield)
2 tablespoon Lea Perrins worcestershire sauce (my tweaking)
2 tablespoon of oil

That's it! Don't forget to baste during cooking. I made a separate batch of sauce for basting, using the same ingredients above.
I didn't have the chance to bbq outside the house and so I used the oven/broiler. The results were still perfect. I'm drooling as I imagine cooking it the old fashioned way.

*If you're going to bbq pork, add ketchup. Marinate overnight.

staycating

We've made a big pocket hole with our gas consumption this week. It's enough to make us feel guilty and need a counterbalance of sorts.
I think I'm going to impose a personal driving "diet." Before our coming Hawaii trip, I do need to practice some major spending restraint.

Been having too much fun lately. Gosh, what is with me and guilt right now? I've been out everyday, I'm already tired just recalling everything that happened recently. It could be the heat just draining me of enthusiasm.

Dino and I woke up at 9am Saturday and decided that the gas guzzlin' guilt was not going to rob us of our weekend. We got showered and headed straight to SF.
By the time we got to the city, it was lunch time. We made a yummy choice with Pakwan on 16th and Guerrero.
Dino's main motivation for going to the city was Ritual Coffee. He's been raving about this cafe since he first tried it. So after lunch, we walked from 16th to 21st street.
Makes sense, right? Coffee on an extremely hot day. I asked for a cold drink and was given an iced double espresso. Double the dehydration, please. KTnxBye.

The heat was phenomenal. I developed heat rash on my upper back at the end of the day-- unbelievable as it may sound as I come from a tropical country, but the last time I had this skin reaction was before kindergarten when I had too much time playing out in the streets.
So that was weird. I didn't even have heat rash when we went to the desert for Burning Man. I was probably too caffeinated yesterday, my skin was all sorts of crazy.

The rest of our afternoon was spent in Golden Gate park for the Power to the Peaceful event. Met up with the Velascos and had a grand time chit-chatting, playing with Zoe and just taking in the peaceful crowd.

The piece de resistance: dinner at Kuya's in San Bruno.

Crispy short ribs. Baked mussels in garlic and butter. Pork Sinigang. Bobo Chacha, or was it Coco Boogie, dessert.

Food coma, yes. Longer life, no.

surprise

There's a bunch of idiots at Kaiser.
In the last month of not working, I thought that I had been very well on my way to carpal tunnel syndrome recovery.
My last physician, who for unknown reason left office, said that I also had tendonitis on my left wrist. The symptoms of CTS are almost completely gone, except for this consistent pain/irritation on my left wrist.
The conservative treatment of using Ibuprofen, ice pack and wrist support hasn't been working at all.

Enter my new doctor, who now proposes that I still have carpal tunnel syndrome.

What is it really? It's been more than half a year of examinations and none of these professionals have anything helpful for me. Talk about idiopathy! They've given me electrode shocks and a single day class for repetitive stress patients. I've sacrificed not earning money to avoid surgery and further compromise of my hands.

So I just scheduled another medical consultation. Let's see what these quacks will come up with this time.

labor day weekend

The long weekend is over. It seemed like we waited for Dino's birthday party for a long time and now it's already a memory. A very fun one, of course!
Saturday
So many different characters rolled into our tiny space in San Jose and made our home beyond cozy, lovely and warm last Saturday night. We did our best but for next time there's a few things we should be overly prepared for, like food!
Diet has no place in a party shopping list. I was at the grocery store and I stopped myself from getting an extra bag of potato chips. The party started at 6pm and by past 10, the dinner table was exhausted. I was too drunk to cook, or to actually look for what to make. Too bad, there is no Martha or Rachel Ray in me.
It was also the time when I wished we had hired help. Or a very helpful uncle/aunt who loves to manage the kitchen while the kids are at play.
An extra set of batteries would have been cool too. The red wine got me and I went upstairs for what I planned to be a few minutes of quiet in the bedroom. I'm guessing that an hour or two had passed and I woke up to an empty house. Everyone had left and I failed to see them off! Based on a text message I got from E and what he told me the day after, the last guests must have left close to 5am.
Worrying aside, the party was a success. Although some friends did not make it and mostly were out of town, a bunch of 'maybe's' in the Facebook invite managed to come--much appreciated! An army of little ones joined the festivities as well. How we've all grown! It's so cool to see our friends' cute babies and all the other lovely kids!
Sunday
Dino and I woke up at 8am. Even with matching hang over, we started cleaning the house and cooked a hearty brunch. Tri-tip/Steak, white rice and corn at 11am! We were really hungry.
Lounged for a few more hours, but was too manic to stay indoors. I drove north to pick up E and we hung out in Serramanila--david's term :)
E and I had some YUMMY fro-yo (frozen yogurt) at the food court. Then David aka Schmoopie joined us and we all went to Target.
It's so not right, but I cannot just browse and not get anything from Target. Picked up a cd: One Day as a Lion by Zack de la Rocha and drummer dude from Mars Volta. It was on sale for $5.99. Very good buy. I had to wait for the drive back to San Jose to listen to the audio full blast.
The boys and I had dinner at HardKnox. I had the smothered chicken. Soul food--3rd YUMMY of the day. Oh boy!
Then it was Green Apple Books PARADISE! 4th YUMMY. We could all live in this place. I got myself a new photo book (Nikki S. Lee's PARTS) and I am so psyched to do a photo project.
I need more inspiration and I'm thinking I should hit the museums again and other bookstores as well.
Monday
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Facebook. Steak and pasta for lunch. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Facebook. Steak and pasta for dinner. Chardonnay.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.