kung hei fat choi - 2007

It's New Year 2007- the second time round!

Chinese New Year fell on February 18 this year. Cathy and I thought we would celebrate at home by trying to mimic all the traditions we can remember.

Let's start with food. Well what I remember is we need to have fish (nian nian yo yi) so I grilled some Snapper. (I was supposed to cook it with ginger and black bean sauce but ran out of time). I threw some shrimps on the griller too for good measure. I recall shrimp was good to have on the Nea Year's Eve dinner table- either the color or the chinese character for it was lucky-- but in any case, even though I did not season it, it tasted good-- luckily.
=)

I also cooked some ampalaya with corned beef and egg; and beef with basil leaves. I don't know that these symbolized anything- I cooked what we felt like eating. On hindsight, ampalaya (bitter melon) was probably not the best choice for the occasion.- Meanwhile, Cathy cooked some sinigang na hipon. We capped off with some store-bought chocolate cream pie. - Overall dinner was yummy and we were full-- I think we fulfilled the intention of the New Year's Eve tradition, notwithstanding that we did not stick to the menu.

Separately, we made sure to fill our fruit platter. We were confused whether the right number of fruits was 9 or 12 and ended up with 11 (more from my poor counting skills-- I double counted the apple-- than anything else; I had meant to go with a dozen). Still and all, I thought it ended up looking pretty good.

Lastly, we tidied up the house a bit and opened all the lights. Cathy tells me the latter is a Filipino tradition and she is probably right. Still a few watts was not gonna hurt the electric bill we left them on till midnight.

We ended up braving the cold and watching the last full show of "Music and Lyrics" with a couple of friends. Thus did we usher the new year in with light hearts and full stomach. I'd be content if would be so lucky the entire year.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone.

New addition to our family.

(Photo from http://www.galaofgifts.com/products.asp?product=2447 )

Meet Brad.

He is one of my Valentines gift for Cathy. He does more than turn rosy-cheeked, he shakes, giggles, and chatters. A steal for 9.95.

(By the way, Hallmark christened him 'Louie' but we didnt like the name. I dont like the name Brad either but what can I do?)

Brad marks our 2nd V-day in the US. This year, we are celebrating quietly by having a late dinner at a quiet place. I like how there is less fanfare around V-day here. Sure, there are the commercials for jewelry, flowers, cakes, what-not (heart-shaped pizza anyone?) but somehow there is less pressure to overspend and 'show your love' and reserving months in advance for overpriced dinners, Valentines concerts.

And the traffic. I remember this one year (2003?) when it took me 2 hrs to get from Makati to Sta Cruz to pick Cathy up, and then an hour to get to Intramuros for dinner that cost Php2000 a head. Not. Worth. It.

So, I am thankful this year, there is no 'environmental' pressure to celebrate Valentines a certain way. I hope Cathy agrees.

I'm pretty sure Brad doesn't mind.

* Check out www.Hallmark.com for an interactive version of Brad/Louie*

Perspective...

Why I shouldn't complain about my job?

1) I have one.

2) It pays me enough.

3) I don't have to be up at 2am to shovel other people's snow.

... this realization after I found out the apartment driveway is in fact manually shovelled (I suppose by a contractor) in the dead of night, not cleared by machines as previously suspected.

Why is it that I know this? I was up working and heard the sound of shovel grating on gravel. Working at 2am doesnt sound all that bad (I was inside where it was toasty and comfortable) when you consider how backbreaking shovelling snow must be. - Perspective is a wonderful thing.

'How's work?' - Can't complain =)

(photo taken right outside our apartment)

Snow Day!

(Weather conditions snapshot from CNN.com)

Kids can't have all the fun.

Today, heavy snowstorm caused a mild panic as folks tried to get home early to avoid the rush hour traffic. Snow was forecast to fall from 1pm to 1am. People starting leaving the office before lunch to avoid the slippery roads and bad driving that inevitably came with it.

For me , that meant leaving the office shortly after 2pm (third to the last to leave on our floor). The trek to the parking lot was slow going, as the ground was covered with mushy snow. The car was covered with a thin layer of snow. Thankfully, it was powdery variety and shook off easily using the scraper's brush. I remember when we had the icy variety which you really had to scrape off. Not fun.

The drive home that usually takes 10 minutes took us ~35 minutes. There were no accidents in the route we took; just a lot of people driving really slow. I was ready to get cranky but noticed that I was having trouble steering the car (tires seem to skid) so figured it was just as well.

Now a snow day is when school is called off because of inclement weather. In my case though, had to get back online and keep working as soon as I got back to the apartment. Three cheers (?) for telecommuting. Well, at least I can control the climate here (the office thermostat seems to be perenially 'off'- too cold in the summer and too hot in the winter).

All in all, not much of a snow day, unless you take it literally.

Super Bowl weekend-- big whoop.

The Indy Colts and Chicago Bears battle it out today in Super Bowl XLI. Now if there were were at least three things in that sentence that caused you to scratch your head, you're not alone.

The Superbowl is the championship game of National Football Leagues (NFL). The NFL season is spread over two years so one can look forward to the madness associated with Super Bowl Sunday every other year.

Let's countdown some of the fanfare around Super Bowl Sunday. There are the commercials. The Super Bowl supposedly draws the most television audience every year. You can bet that advertisers want in. Some of the best (and worst) commercials are unveiled during for the game. You can bet that if not the game itself, people will be talking about the commercials, the day after the big game.

Next big ado about Super Bowl are the singers and performers who play during halftime. Such names as U2, Phil Collins, The Rolling Stones, Sir Paul McCartney have played the Super Bowl halfime. This year it is Prince (if that is what he goes by these days- who can keep up?).

Then, there is the food. From my vantage, seems the preferred method for celebrating the Super Bowl is noisily; with a gang of boisterous friends. Surely, such an occasion merits all-out party fare. It is not clear to me though what is the food of choice for the Super Bowl. I am guessing if Thanksgiving has it turkey, the Super Bowl has the party platter. (I am going by the TV ads =) Trivia for you: according to Wikipedia, Super Bowl is supposedly the second largest food consumption day after Thanksgiving.

And then there is the game. Uhmmmmm.... ahrm..... 'Nuff said.

So how am I spending my Super Bowl weekend? I am hoping, at home and sleeping (if I am not working). I am not a big sports spectator and while the commercials interest me, I know the best of them will surface in the next days in youtube or CNN and I can catch them up then. The game-- playing between the commercials-- is too much overhead methinks.

Or maybe I will watch Puppy Bowl III on Animal Planet. (http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/puppybowl/puppybowl.html) Go Porsche! Go Quesadilla!

Whoopee.