TASTE TEST

Meatballs in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Here's how I do my kind of Meatballs in Sweet and Sour Sauce!

WHAT MATTERS MOST ON VALENTINES DAY

I have always thought of Valentines Day to be the most romantic day of the year. Well, when I was still that idealistic young girl... I thought it should be like that... until Valentines Day 2005. I didn't have a date and I didn't even try to make plans for myself - like celebrate my singleness at that time. By the spur of the moment, my good friend Kizzy and I decided we would walk up and down Session Road in Baguio City and count how many people are holding on to V-DAY ESSENTIALS, namely: roses, chocolates, gift, and a DATE. We saw some friends and some familiar faces and we had a lot of fun. That valentine night I learned that the big deal about valentines is spending it with the one you love, no matter how or where or what you do about the occasion. I love Kizzy - she's one of my best girlfriends. And most of all - I learned to love myself!

FAST FORWARD TO VALENTINES DAY 2009

This is Carl and mine's first valentines day as a married couple. I made a plan and I know he did too. I planned for a gorgeous pancake breakfast with strawberry syrup. I know Carl is always amazed by what I prepare on the table, so this time I thought I'd include him in the preparation... I was starting to prep the pancake ingredients when he asked me to go for a morning walk first...then we'll make pancakes when we get back... I said ok, and headed to our door...

Then this was what happened next...

I've been playing around with my camera lately...
Here's one!

The pancake idea failed. I got really frustrated because I wanted to shape them like hearts but the batter was too soupy. It was probably the milk's fault - instead of 3/4 cup I put 1 cup. I tried to "repair" my pancake batter by adding more flour - tadah! NO MORE FLOUR! I tried my luck and added cake mix to substitute the flour. It was already ten o'clock. As I attempted my third pancake, Carl told me we had to be ready by 11:ooam because Jasmine and Scott are driving us to town. I gave him THE LOOK - I felt like, there I was trying so hard to make heartshaped pancakes for valentines brunch...and there he was telling me to drop all my plans because we have to work with his sister and future brother-in-law's schedule. I was furious inside. I gave up on my pancakes... I poured the batter down the drain...I was upset. I opened the TV and watched Ace of Cakes on Food Network.

11:30 and there was no sign of Jasmine and Scott - not even a call. I asked Carl if he wanted to eat lunch at home or still wait for our company. He said he was getting hungry...I made lunch. This wasn't in my plan - but I worked my magic though... I stared at the fridge for about two minutes - I took out some honey ham, a chicken thigh, bean sprouts, and chinese cabbage. I decided to make Ham & Chicken Wrap (without the cheese) and Garlic Bean Sprouts.

Here's us preparing for our Valentine Lunch

Finished Product!

We finally got a call from our company and they were picking us up at around 2:oopm. We got ready - but we didn't get ready for the appropriate activity. All these time we thought we heading straight to town. Little did we know that we were going to take a dip in the water first. TADAH - SURPRISE SURPRISE. You know me, I don't really like sudden twist. When Jasmine came with the "we're going to go swimming at Hukilau" announcement, I tried to be calm and just asked for extra five minutes to change into my swimming suit.

Here's a couple of pictures we had... We went swimming with Jasmine, Scott, Mike (Scott's brother), and April (our good friend)

The waves were awesome...

... and I must admit, this unplanned swimming activity swept some of my upset feelings away. The waves probably took them back to the sea! 

After that cool swim, I knew we were definitely going to town right after. We gave ourselves an hour to dry ourselves and get ready for our dinner dates. Jasmine and Scott made plans to see the Boyz II Men concert at Blaisdell in Honolulu...and Carl and I planned to be dropped off at our dinner destination, then meet up again by midnight. When they came to pick us up at our house, I wasn't ready yet. I got too caught up on choosing a dinner destination. Our choices were: Assaggio, Romano's Macaroni Grill, Tanaka of Tokyo, Tsukiji, Dave & Busters, Red Lobster, and Old Spaghetti Factory. We decided we wanted to dine at Red Lobster. When we got to the car, Jasmine told us we're all heading to Waipahu to eat at Max's! I looked at my husband...and he knew what to do. Besides, if we go all the way to the west side, they might miss the concert...So we headed to Honolulu and I started to daydream about Red Lobster.


We thought we'll be saved from the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG waiting lines at the restaurants. We were wrong. We couldn't afford to wait that long because Jasmine and Scott decided to eat with us and they can't be late for the concert. We gave up Red Lobster and drove to Ala Moana. Again, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG waiting lines at Romano's, Assaggio, Ruby Tuesdays, and Bubba Gump. Jasmine was really hungry already - all she had for the day was a power bar. Carl and I had lunch so we were fine. As for Scott, maybe he was trying to skip meals intentionally.


So anyway...we ended up having dinner at Ala Moana's Makai Market. Yup, the food court. After going around twice, We tried Mama's Spaghetti House. I had Seafood Supreme with Caesar Salad and Carl had Bay Shrimp Pasta. (We still had the Red Lobster hangover...). It wasn't bad at all - we were full! And I really enjoyed my pasta because it had Capers. They were like green peas but smaller and more olive in color. When you bite them, they burst in your mouth and you get all the wonderful flavors of the sea! I swear - I probably told Carl how happy I was with the capers hundred times that night! Anyway, after dinner we took a stroll to Ward Cinemas. We watched the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic - and we had a blast!


So there...none of the things we really planned happened on Valentines Day. But so what? I was reminded of the lesson I learned four years ago - Spend the day with the one you love, it doesn't matter how, where or what you do about the occasion. And I learned something new... heart-shaped pancakes are not exclusive to Valentines Day breakfast because you can make anyday, Valentines Day!

Spread the Love!

The Greatest Wife in the World!

Mommy,
Happy Valentine's Day.
I love you.
Daddy

SHE GOT HER RING...AND SHE'S GETTING MARRIED FOR REAL

This blog entry is dedicated to our dear sister Jasmine! She celebrated her birthday yesterday (2/11) and she had blast, of course because I cooked good food for her birthday - but on top of that, her "sweetie" Scott flew all the way from Draper, Utah to be with her.


Anyways...this is not about her birthday...but about the day after that... Scott and my husband Carl arranged everything so I couldn't tell the backstage story.


I was asked to prepare dinner - Carl requested my famous Chicken BBQ. I was told to be ready by 5:30pm because we are going to have a little family picnic at Hukilau Beach.....


When Jasmine and Scott came to the house, I heard Carl tell Jasmine that dinner won't be ready until 9pm because he had to rush something for school, then I heard Scott say they're going to grab something from the grocery first. After they were gone, Carl told me we had to go to Hukilau Beach to prepare everything. I was assigned to take videos from our camera and Carl would be taking pictures from Scott's - and all these should be done behind bushes by the beach. When we got there, Jasmine and Scott had already started walking towards Malaekehana...and i thought to myself..."is he crazy? there's no way we could follow them all the way there without being caught!"

Here's a picture of them walking farther and farther away from us

So I asked Carl to call Scott and just pretend to be talking to his brother Mike. They made changes in the plan and the two started walking towards us again. They sat on the sand, talked, then Scott prodded Jasmine that its time to go home. As Jasmine stood, Scott bent on his knees, opened his little box, and asked our sister to marry him.

Here's how it happened... (sorry I was speaking Tagalog while taking the video)

So of course our sister said yes...and as Scott said, they are "officially engaged!"

Here's more pictures of them that Carl and I took...

PANCIT, BROWNIES, and JAMIE'S SPECIAL TURON

We had dinner with friends on Sunday night! Cool huh?! It would have been more fun to tell you the story if we had pictures taken...but for some reason we couldn't find our camera...anyway, i'll post pictures of who were there sometime...when we have dinner again!


We had Aaron and Susan Moore come over - Carl and I have been thinking of inviting them over since the first day of Marriage Relations class, but somehow we keep on forgetting it. So on Sunday, Aaron brought up the idea to have a little potluck or something with his missionmates from Manila, Philippines (Apple Jane Atanante and Mertz de Leon) next Sunday... and then i thought why don't they have dinner with us that night...i was in the mood to entertain anyways! I made pancit (stir-fry rice noodles) for everyone and our friendly guests brought desserts.







So Aaron and Susan came over for dinner before they went to the Stake Auxilliary Training...and Susan made yummy BROWNIES!!! :) They were so yum...really! They were rich and creamy...I think I ate two ( but I ate the second one when everyone's gone! LOL)









Our good friends Jamie and Ckaz Anderson brought Turon. Ok...i think this is really the highlight of our dinner. Ckaz told me earlier that Sunday that she's making Lumpia (meat springrolls) for dinner. She really made them though - but it was all gone before they even come over. My kind-hearted girlfriend Ckaz gave some to their neighbor, Hiva Bradshaw. Hiva loves lumpia - like she super loves them! So anyway...the Andersons eventually brought Turon (banana lumpia as everyone here refers to it...). And let me tell you folks, their Turon is quite a story (that's why this blog entry is entitled PANCIT, BROWNIES, and JAMIE'S SPECIAL TURON).











What made Jamie's turon special is the "sugar alternative" he used on it when they realized they were out of sugar. When they came in, i noticed that some Turon were reddish... then Ckaz blurted out that it was Jamie's fault. Jamie actually used jello powder (strawberry-banana flavor, i think, because thats what they had) because, as Jamie puts it, "it's sugar anyways!" I was the first one to try it...and they were REALLY GOOD! It was even better than the usual Turon, at least as far as my tastebuds are concerned. But then everybody tried it, and they agreed that it was good. So now Ckaz had to apologize to her husband because, again as Jamie said it, "(you) didn't trust (me)."


Everybody was full and Aaron almost wanted to take a nap...Ckaz and Jamie stayed until around 8:oopm and we talked stories and our boys watched basketball. It was a good Sunday... thanks to our pancit, Susan's yummy Brownies, and Jamie's special Turon! we should probably do it again!

CARL'S NEW FOUND BEST FRIENDS

Carl is an IT guy. On one of our past blogs, i wrote about him moving to a different job and how our lifestyle has been adjusting to the demands of his senior year in school and his new job. So... I decided to talk about Carl's new found best friends WHO are helping him pull through his last few months in school!

PRESENTING!

Ok, honestly I haven't opened any of these yet. And I don't think I'm ever going to. I'm not a techie person, I just use techie people's products! So there, Carl is extremely happy with his best friends and as far as I know, they are making his life easier. He loves the DUMMIES series and I think he talks to them the most. They are awesome helpers, and as long as they keep Carl afloat with his projects, homeworks, and tests... they will have a special place in our house!

And so while Carl does all these, I'm left with the time to relax and think of our business plan, a bright idea for my Kula Manu entry, a possible part-time job, and creative and resourceful recipes for Carl...

All In A Day's Work

My weekdays are always crazy. They start at 4:45am and i try to end them by 11:30pm. I spend approximately 4 hours on the road, 20 minutes waiting for my ride, 45 minutes taking lunch, 8 hours (and +/- 15 minutes at work), 5 hours uninterrupted sleep... the remaining 6 hours will be what you call quality time with my husband.

Every work day, something adds up to my list of "reasons why I hate the corporate world." When I first started working full-time, the only reason why I dreaded weekdays was my long bus rides. But with my new project with one of the largest banks in Hawaii, the list got longer and longer (and maybe by the time you get to read this, I've already talked to my boss about being moved to a different project!).

After 4 months...one reason fell off my list, and it is surprisingly the first reason I actually came up with in the beginning - THE BUS RIDE.

When I tell people I take the bus everyday to go to work in Honolulu... I always get the same reaction. Yup! You are right - my bus ride is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG! I hated it at first - I mean who would like to take a 2-hour bus ride at 6am everyday and take another one after work and don't get home 'til 7:00 or 7:30 in the evening?! Well, I do... And believe it or not, I have actually found reasons to look forward to my LOOOOOOOOOONG bus rides...

1. Carl and I actually walk to the bus stop at Hale La'a Blvd. every morning to catch the 6am bus. It's like our "early morning talk" and I love it.
2. I get my dose of quiet time whenever I take the bus in the afternoon. I take the 88A (Northshore via Kahekili) which is an Express Bus. The Express comes about 15 minutes after the regular route bus (55 - Kaneohe Circle Island) leaves the bus stop. Meaning, the Express is rarely full, since almost everyone heading to the Northshore has already taken the earlier bus. We have "regulars" on the Express and we mind our own business. We take our own QUIET time!




3. I love the view when you just get past the tunnel when travelling up Likelike Highway (towards Northshore). When I sit on the driver's side of the bus, the gorgeous Koolau mountains always amaze me. And when I sit on the bus door's side, I love the view of Honolulu's cityscape.




4. I always get excited when the bus hits Kahalu'u between 6:10pm - 6:20pm. When the Express hits Kahalu'u around this time, we've beaten the regular route bus that left Honolulu 20 minutes earlier! And that also means I'll get to La'ie at around 6:45pm!




5. Carl picks me up at the Hale La'a bus stop on most nights...and if he doesn't make it at the bus stop, it means something good is cooking up in our kitchen - or much better, DINNER IS READY!

And so, lately my bus rides don't seem so long anymore. In fact, it has become my escape from the crazy corporate world...and my gateway to Carl and mine's paradise called home!