hungry mind

Wake up mornings with me and one day you'll notice that I've slipped out of bed to whoop up a surprise.

Stay more than one sunrise and you'll find out that I'm pretty much a mushroom guy.

When I'm in a good mood, I can start chopping ingredients in the kitchen and cook away. I do it without the aid of any opened cookbook. It starts with what interests my appetite. And then I try to picture the dish in my head including its taste once I put it in my mouth.

The imagination continues thru the slicing, tossing and frying. Floor walks opening the doors of the fridge and the cupboard, searching what could fit in the concoction. Yea, it can make me restless but it's therapy as well.

Everything's spontaneous. There's really no preselected ingredient. Whatever is here, if its interesting to experiment with, it goes into the pan.

The kitchen is my lab.

In my past post, I wrote about yogi eggs - creamy omelette cooked with strawberry yogurt.

Now meet my mushroom rice. This dish reuses left over rice for a breakfast treat. The ingredients are:

1. leftover rice
2. sauteed garlic, onion and tomato
3. chopped button mushrooms (lots)
4. chopped green pepper
5. sliced bacon strips (not preseasoned)
6. one egg (beaten in the wok on top of the rice)

The following seasonings:

1. vinegar (2 bottle caps-ful)
2. knorr seasoning
3. minced garlic and basil
4. kinchay

Alternative for bacon strips is chicken meat or tinapa (which I'd love to use next time).

J loves the mushroom rice. It goes well with fried sweet squid or fish.

Sometimes though I go continental.

Wheat bread with light butter, hotdog or country sausage (whichever is available), egg & mushroom omelette topped with grated cheese, and baby potatoes in sour cream. There's either a small portion of pomelo or sunkist orange on the side.

Green tea is my preferred cup while J would go for a cold glass of chocomilk.

And of course, after taking all the heat from the stove, the morning paper to make a perfect closing.

Let me show you other stuff from my kitchen.

• chef wacky salad (lettuce, chicken meat, tomato, cucumber, ripe mango, sliced boiled egg, red bell pepper, croutons, chopped olives and honey mustard dressing)
• rice-o-lution (tocino bbq and hawaiian sayote)

The tocino bbq is a borrowed concept from Dumaguete's Tocino Country. (If you've been there and you missed this adventure, balikan nyo. Promise.)

Meanwhile, the hawaiian sayote is again something I invented. It's sauteed sayote in creamy sauce (similar to chopsuey) with pineapple tidbits. The one that I cooked is the spicy version because I put in chopped pepper (siling pari).

Hmm...who knows. Maybe I'll open my own food house later and let the Gourmet Chick manage it.

* * *
Who came to dinner?

shoot and upload

One of the greatest inventions of Thomas Edison is Robin Williams.

He is speed neuron.

He's like French wine that becomes better as he ages.

And what's totally awesome about him is that he's simply nuts.

If you're one of those viewers who like James Lipton's Inside The Actor's Studio, someone uploaded Robin Williams' guesting. It is divided into 6 hilarious parts. I recommend it.

I watch YouTube now more than any show on cable. It's becoming a habit. I get to watch shows that either I missed or weren't aired here at all. And no ads to endure.

There are also interesting vlogs like Patrick Dempsey on the Writers Guild Strike and the fun to watch Jessica Alba's stare.

Of course, there's the trash and not-so trashy material online. What can you do? It's free. But there are videos worth watching even if they're shot for less than a minute. Take for instance this material from Greenpeace...



J is catching up with this habit. She's into watching videos of babies laughing like the quadruplets (omg! this is contagious) and Charlie, the finger biter.

stalked in the aisle

One evening I ran out of milk and tissue...

baby on board

When my friends learned the news of Summit's arrival, the moms immediately suggested that I put a sign on the car that reads: baby on board.

I said no thrice.

Gwapo on board di ko nga nilalagyan, yun pa.

Okay, kapit. Hawak lang sa estribo. Ü

Barf bag? Tadyak, you like?

And besides, I limit the number of stickers on it. I want to maintain my windshields dark and "quiet."

* * *

Now I know that loving moms are from heaven. I think they're there when God and His angels have to take a beer break.

My own mom helps out rear Summit. My nannies went on a bakasyon leave last month and will be back on the 25th.

yaya, are we there yet?

I found additional good help from a neighbor who comes at night to take care of Summit. This is on a temp basis. Her name is Sinta. She is actually one of the caretakers of a lot of a homeowner.

Speaking of neighbors, I've added another pedia for Summit. One is Dr A, a neighbor who hails from Cebu and practices at LP Doctors. The other is Dr Z, our pedia based at the Asian Hospital.

I let Dr A take care of his vaccinations because his rates are lower than Dr Z. I'm keeping both doctors handy so that we can go to either Asian or LP Doctors, whichever is more necessary.

* * *

Facts for the curious:

1. His favorite songs are Elmo's Song and the Muffin Man.
2. He will say mommy or daddy when he's really upset and wants attention from either.
3. He prefers S-26 to Nan.
4. He loves Bogart & fears Rufus.
5. He recently discovered the art of thumbsucking.
6. His assets are his nose and eyes (long & straight eyelashes like mine).
7. Malaki ang kamao...at pati na rin yun Ü
8. He's dark like his ninong Hoot. (Sayang di nagmana sa mom nya pero buti na lang boy sya kaya okay lang.)
9. He doesn't mind watching Sunday boxing on TV on my lap.
10. He loves people talking to him.

love and promises

It's not the song that Wet Wet Wet bit me with.

The song has a history shared with Ella, the ex mistaken by everyone in the family to be the One. When we finally separated amicably, I learned that three cousins didn't favor her for one or more reason. But because they love me, they chose not to be vocal about their feelings. I'd remember Cagayan De Oro whenever I hear this and the time we were there for leisure. I purchased my first Wet album that included this song at Limketkai.

It's not only CDO but also the bus trip to the pineapple plantation in Butuan. Memories that hit you with the question, "So what went wrong?" That possibility didn't exist during the airplay of Goodnight Girl.

Late last April one of my cousins who works in the same corporate as Ella asked me if I knew any updates. I said no and then I kept quiet. I gave the impression that I wanted to be spared. It didn't work.

She went on to tell me stuff like Ella was in the hot seat because she was caught cheating with the business partner of her fiance. And that she's currently hooking up with a "childhood" flame.

I shook my head.

I hope my cousin will not be crazy enough to volunteer to my ex about me having a son with J when they bump into each other at work.

Now I'm thinking why I shook my head then. I realized that before we split up, she was so furious that she promised she'll make it to the top while I'll be looking up at her from hell down under.

Hell didn't find me. Or maybe didn't want me at all.

I shook my head because deep inside I was concerned. Pala. I want her to be finally happy.

Can't undo certain major parts.

4 years is a long story to make.

And one good one was captured in 4:10 minutes by Wet.

* * *

kids should know that...

Marti Pellow enjoyed success with Wet Wet Wet throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. However, in 1997 drummer Tommy Cunningham left the band and its success waned immediately. Pellow was by this time suffering from an addiction to heroin. On finally beating the drug, he stated: "It was textbook. I couldn't function without it. But there's no romantic side to heroin – it's no good." Pellow left Wet Wet Wet in May 1999, effectively disbanding the group. They reformed, however, in March 2004. (wikipedia)