Mental Break . . .

from work that is.  Why don’t they make Twix Chocolate Bars without “caramel?”  Hmmm…what would they call it?  I had to “scrape” off the gooey caramel covering the top layer of the cookie.  How did they come up with the name “Twix” to begin with?  This has nothing to do with the chocolate candy bar,  don’t these people in cyberspace have better things to do instead of “trying” to post comments on my site (I’m talking about “dirty” stuff) . . . their comments will never be posted because it has to be approved by me so please don’t waste your time and my time “spamming” and/or “deleting” your comments which again, will never be posted under my “comments” without approval.

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A Quiet Memorial Day . . .

Since the hubs had to work today, the three of us just lounged around the house. We didn’t go to the cemetery to visit Nanay only because I don’t “feel” she’s really there. I hope people don’t get the wrong idea that I don’t “love” Nanay for not visiting her at the cemetery. I do love Nanay but for me, Nanay is with us at home. I always try to have fresh flowers for her to put next to her picture on the “shrine” that I’ve set up in our dining room. Whenever I need to talk to Nanay, I talk to her picture, so again, that’s my reason for not wanting visiting Nanay at the cemetery. It was nice not having really to go anywhere and being butt lazy. . . although I had to do loads and loads of laundry and still have to fold them after I blog this. I made lunch for the JP and AC . . . fried some chicken, made some chicken with mushroom rice (in the box) and blanched some baby carrots and poured brown sugar glaze over them. While uploading some photos, I saw this picture that JP took at lunch of AC eating . . . this was taken when I quickly left the table to answer the phone. Later this afternoon, AC and I went to Pet Food Express to “price” out the cost of owning a dog. We’re in the process of adopting a dog from those rescue shelters and they want to know how much do we expect it would cost to own a dog . . . food, toys, vet care, etc. There’s this one Pomeranian Mix for possible adoption but only if the family before us is not a good fit. We’re looking into a small dog (weighing less than 25 lbs) for AC and of course a dog that is “good with cats” . . . . because of our Tina. Moving along . . . before going to Nob Hill, AC and I made a stop at Ohana Hawaiian BBQ to get a tropical smoothie. While in line, AC said she felt like having rice so we shared one of their combo plates. I decided to order the hubs and JP food to go so that I didn’t have to make dinner for them. Besides, when the hubs called earlier, he sounded a bit depressed because this was the first Memorial Day he couldn’t be home in the afternoon as he had to work at the other job. 😦 He also said he wasn’t able to barbecue today. At least when he gets home, he’ll have barbecue. 🙂 I went outside in the backyard a few minutes ago to take some pics of the orchids and the hub’s persimmon tree. I also took a picture of our “lonely” gazebo . . . the tables and chairs still covered. . . and so it was . . . a quiet memorial day. Hope everyone had fun on this 3-day weekend. For me, I had a 5-day weekend, but now it’s back to work tomorrow. Gotta fold them clothes now! Arghhhh!

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AC’s 8th Grade Dinner Dance . . .

I’m tellin’ ya. . . gurls are so different from boys! With JP’s 8th grade dinner dance some 3 years ago, all we had to do was rent him a tux and he was “done” with it. However, being a gurl there was all sorts of “preparation” that needed to be done. . . so first thing Saturday morning, JP droped AC to have her manicure & pedicare. I was still getting ready because I had a wedding to do and needed to be at the church at 1:00 p.m. I went to the salon where AC was going to have her nails done and of course they were running late . . . I saw a mom who was going to have her nails done to along with waxing of the brows for the event that night. I wish I could have had my nails done but I haven’t had my nails done since in a very long long time. To me, it’s a luxury . . . it would have been nice but again, it’s a luxury . . . something I could “live” without. Besides, I think I do a rather good job on my own nails since I have all the cuticle scissors, nail pushers, etc. OK…..I’m getting side-tracked here. Afterwards, AC and I went up to Montclair to buy some lipgloss and other “gurlie” stuff. RS’s daughter, Nikki was going to do her face and hair that early evening prior to the “big” event. After the wedding, I rushed home to get ready myself. Nikki did such a wonderful job on AC with the face and makeup. I later found out that RS ended up doing AC’s face while Nikki did AC’s hair. You can’t tell by the pic but Nikki put AC’s hair in curls. Around 6:45 p.m. Saturday night, the hubs, AC and I headed over to the school gym which was “transformed” to a magical place with mini-lights and this huge “parachute” where we all sat under this huge “tent-like” canopy. (That was the hardest part of the decorating trying to get that “parachute” attached to the high ceiling the night before.) The event was simply beautiful . . . with gurls in their “elegant” dresses and the boys in either tuxes or suits. This event was for the student and the parents . . . no siblings, no other families, but just a time for “them.” Several weeks prior to this event, the students were also taught various dances, such as the waltz, cha-cha, fox-trot, salsa, merengue and a couple of others that I can’t think of right now. Since the ratio was 18 gurls to 10 boys, the boys had to dance all the dances while some of the gurls waited out. They looked so adorable on the dance floor. The boys had to go to their partner’s table and escort her on to the dance floor. Between their “dances”, the parents also got to do their thing on the dance floor. . . I think the most memorable time about the event was when they had the daughter-father, then son-mother dance. Unbeknownst to CW and I, her son and AC each gave us flowers and a gift card from the 8th grade class thanking us for being “room parents” ever since our kids were in Kindergarten. It didn’t even dawn on me why they were both up there. The committee started planning for this event back in September of last year . . . our hard work and efforts paid off! It was indeed a success and a beautiful one at that! I’m sure fun was had by all those attended, including some of the faculty and Father N. The event ended at 11:00 p.m. . . . the 7th grade parents were in charge of tear-down and clean-up so it felt so “weird” just walking away without having to do the “dirty” job since normally at school events and (church events) we’re always helping to clean-up . . . But this time, we just bid farewell to the 7th grade parents . . . and that was the night!

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The Wedding from …..

I don’t want to say the “word” but I’m sure you know what I mean. On Saturday, Jack and I were already at the church at 1:00 p.m. because that’s the time we told the bride we’d be there to let the florist and photographer in. The bride said she and her bridesmaids were also going to be at church around 1:00 p.m. (Did I mention that my printer ran out of ink so I could not print out whatever I had worked on for the wedding. At first the black ink was running low on Friday so I figured I’ll just use the colored ink to print out on Saturday as I had to make some changes the night before. WRONG! The fricken’ colored ink ran out too! I was in a panic because I didn’t have time to go to the store to buy new ink so I sent the documents to the church and had them print them out for me just in time for when I got there at 1:00 p.m. Whew!) Getting back to the wedding from you know where . . . At 2:00 p.m., the bride and her 8 bridesmaids arrive in a limo . . . with their dresses still in “clothing bags”, shoes in boxes and other crap in tow. I said to myself . . . what the f? Keep in mind the ceremony was to start at 2:30 p.m. Jack and I showed them the room where they could get dressed. We did not, I repeat, we did not know that the bride and her bridesmaids were going to get fully dressed inside the church!!!! I was fuming!! It was our understanding, like most weddings that they would arrive to church 30-45 minutes early fully dressed with their wedding attire. The bridesmaids, especially the maid of honor was such a B!! They were complaining that the room was so small . . . what did they expect? The room they were in was the Priest’s Sacristy Room where the priest gets ready prior to mass. Jack and I were caught in total surprise when they arrived with jeans, etc. Luckily they had their make-up on! Come 2:15 p.m., I see Father N . . . he was ready to go inside “his” room, not knowing the bride and her bridesmaids were inside. I immediately told him the wedding party was inside getting dressed. He told us that was his room and that he needed to go in there to get “dressed.” He knew we knew that was his room but it was his way of saying, you better get those girls out, and NOW! I quietly knocked on the door and told them that they have to hurry it up because Father N needed to get ready himself. . . the maid of honor snaps at me, “We’re not ready!” Although they were not ready, Father N was “ready” to explode. He tells me to come get him inside the rectory when they are. While the bridesmaids were getting ready, the groomsmen were wandering around so Jack and I had to look for them to put their boutonnieres on. At 2:40 p.m., we go get Father N. . . at that time, the bridesmaids and ushers were already in formation. The bride said she wasn’t yet ready (she had to go outside to let Father N get dressed). Father N tells them in a very stern voice that he will start the wedding whether or not the bride is ready. He meant it! There was of course snickering from the wedding party.  Around 2:50 p.m. . . . the procession started . . . Despite what happened prior to the ceremony, the “ceremony” itself went smoothly and was very nice. Gina and the pianist JP did a beautiful job! After the ceremony, we didn’t even get one thank you from both sides of the parents . . . the bride and groom didn’t even thank us. The mother of the bride was a “B” herself! She just walked past me and gave me a mean look. I know she was pissed off because we were rushing them to get ready . . . Oh! The mother of the bride had to get dressed at the church too! Can you believe this? They should have gotten dressed since they all were picked up at the hotel. All I can say is that having this church wedding was all for “show.” The entire wedding party and some of the guests were very disrespect to us, especially Father N. The only reason why they were able to have their wedding at this church was because the groom had rec’d his First Holy Communion here even though they are not registered parishioners. This wedding was a lesson to be learned!

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Running around like a chicken without a head . . .

I had to take Thursday and Friday off because I had soooooo much stuff that still needed to be done before Friday evening. That’s why this past week, I did feel like a chicken running around without its head. There was AC’s 8th grade dinner dance that I had to work on (being on the committee), and I had to complete her poster board to be displayed at the dinner dance. There was also a wedding that Jack and were doing this weekend. Being such an “artsy-fartsy” person that I am, I could not just slap on the photos on to the board and be done with it (that’s what the hubs had said), but I had to do it differently by pasting the cut photos on to a white paper with those squiggly scissors and added some of those cute stickers. It was almost like “scrap-booking” but only on black foam poster board. I have to admit I stressed “big” time on this because of the time, (not to mention the money spent on cute stickers, etc.) but I was happy with the outcome. I ended up with 2 poster boards (but only one was displayed at the dinner dance.) I’m planning to have the two poster boards framed so that AC can display them in her room as a “keep-sake” of her through the years. Thursday was spent finishing up with the posters, a trip to Wal-Mart to buy the vases & faux fleurs for the centerpiece for the 21 tables, a trip to the flower mart where I met one of the moms to decide on the flowers and Friday another mom and I spent all morning looking for paper to cover the “ugly” wall gym. AC was due to get out at 12:30 so JP who was already home then, went with me to order those burritos from El Taco Zamorano’s. When I got home, I began cutting the faux fleurs to be put inside the glass vase (with a floating candle). I also had to work on the wedding because there was the rehearsal Friday at 5:00 p.m. I had to type the “order of the wedding” and the readings. Jack met me at the church that afternoon. Of all the weddings that we’ve done, this was probably one of the most uncooperative wedding party! We managed to do two “run-throughs” and called it quits. After this, we had to help decorate the school’s gym for the dinner dance. The hubs and several other fathers were also there to help out. We didn’t leave the gym until 11:45 p.m.

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Look What I’ve Won . . .

Just when I thought I never win anything, I re’cd a letter in the mail several weeks ago announcing that I won this Rancher’s Reserve Grill Pan. . . just by swiping or (entering the number in my case) my Safeway card, I was automatically entered in Safeway’s Rancher’s Grill & Win Sweepstakes whenever I bought any of their Rancher’s Reserve meats. I wish I could have won the grand prize which was if I recall, a trip for four to Maui including round-trip airfare for a six-night, seven-day stay at the Royal Lahaina Resort. (Gosh, the last time I was in Maui was with my buddy Rina . . . and that was back in 80’s.) Well, I had to pick the parcel up at the post office because it required signature and the carrier could not leave it at the doorstep so I went Saturday morning to our nearby post office. When I got home, I immediately tore open the box and inside the box was my anodized aluminum double burner grill pan. From the feel and weight of this grill pan I could tell it was of quality. This double burner grill has stainless steel handles that stays cool to touch. Although I would have loved loved to have won the trip to Maui, I can’t complain because after all, I finally did win something. This pan (so they say) has a suggested value of 100.00. Since the hubs had to work today which means no grill on the barbie . . . maybe I’ll do some indoor grilling today for dinner.  Gotta buy the meat though! 🙂

 

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Greece By the Bay . . .

After mass this morning, CE invited me to attend the Oakland Greek Festival . . . of all the years that I’ve been living in the Bay Area, this was my first time to attend and I am glad that I did because I had a great time . . . especially the “food!” Besides, I like “exposing” myself to different cultures after all, the Bay Area is such a diverse place to live. CE wanted me to try their “loukoumades,” which is deep fried doughcoated with honey and sprinkled with finely chopped nuts. It was delish!! We guzzled it down with their version of the Frappe. After wandering from booth to booth to check out their jewelry, religious artifacts, and beautiful glazed stoneware, we made a stop and shared their “spanakopita.” This is one of my all time favorite “Greek” food. (Many moons ago, before the age of the internet, I actually bought one of Martha Stewart’s recipe book just to get the recipe for this spanakopita. I made it once but I had a hard time with the phyllo-dough. I’m going off track here so I’ll have to save this for another post, if any.) The spanakopita is a “pie”filled with spinach and feta cheese and other ingredients, wrapped in layers of phyllo pastry topped with butter or olive oil. We were not counting calories today, at all! You would think that after all we ate that morning we would have stopped there, but it was time for “lunch” so after we got in line to order the lunch meal, we sat down inside the dining area and continued to chow down some more. This time we had their rice pilaf, baked chicken, moussaka (eggplant & ground beef casserole), keftedes (Greek meatballs) , dolmades (stuffed grapevine leaves) and horiatiki (Greek salad which consisted of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, feta cheese and kalamata olives in olive oil). After lunch, we hurried to watch the children dancers who were performing outside . . . because I was such in a haste, I tripped over the platform and fell (knees first) flat on my face. I swear I got up as fast as I fell down because I was so fricken embarrassed not to mention the “big” thug that I made when my entire body fell flat on the wooden platform! This kind man had helped me up but because I was such in a hurry to get up, I told him that I was fine (I was in pain…. I could feel my knees starting to “bruise” and boy were they hurting) . . . while the man helped me up, CE had to retrieve my Coke bottle that had “flew” across. CE didn’t know what to say other than asked me if I was fine, but when I started laughing hysterically, she tuned in. We were practically laughing uncontrollably! Despite my “wounded” knees, (luckily I had jeans on and my camera inside my bag or else that would have “flew” out of my hand), we did another tour of the festival before going home. (Actually, we did go home, but within 30 minutes, I called her to see if she wanted to go to Serramonte Mall with AC and me to look at some puppies for AC and since we were down that way, we made a stop at that Japanese “1.50” store . . . . then we went home. . . I’m multi-tasking now by doing the laundry, cooking and blogging . . .) It was a great day, especially at the festival. Thanks Bru for inviting me to come with you to the festival and for all the goodies and lunch. Same time next year?? Click here for more pics . . .

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My dad . . .

would have been 94 years old today. Both my parents married at a late age which was very uncommon back in those days. My dad died when I was a junior in high school and my bro was a senior. Come to think of it, I’ve only got to know him and be with him for 13 years because he had left my mom, brother and I (back home in the Philippines) to go abroad when I was 4 years old. My dad has been gone longer than I’ve known him. Sometimes I wonder how life would have been if my dad was still with me or if he didn’t have to “go” when I was in high school . . . but that was God’s time for Dad to leave us. Even though Dad was with me for only “13 years,” I will forever cherish those times spent with my dad and the memories of him . . . Dad always took us to the park. To this day, I still remember how my dad used to go down the slide with me and how he’d take my bro and I to the Berkeley Pier. Dad even bought us our very own fishing poles. It’s selfish for me to say, but I just wish that I was able to spend more than the 13 years I had with him. Well, Daddy . . . happy birthday to you! Note: I don’t know when this picture was taken . . . usually mom writes the dates on the back of pictures but this one only had his name.

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Banana & Sour-Cream Walnut Loaf

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1-1/3 cups sugar

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1-1/2 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed of an electric mixer. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir well. Combine eggs, banana, and sour cream; stir well. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternately with banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until blended after each addition; stir in walnuts. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Shield with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning, if necessary.) Let cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack. Yield: 1 loaf

Note: I think of all the banana bread loaves that I’ve ever made, this has to be the best yet for its moistness (maybe because of the sour cream).  From: 1992 Hometown Collection: America’s Best Recipes

 

 

 

 

 

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Thee Prom . . .

Last Friday, JP was asked to be a “date” at a senior prom held in San Francisco. The day before the event, JP goes to have his tux fitted . . . he calls me to tell me that they were “flooding” . . . like capri pants on him. They assured him they will have it corrected in time for the prom, so on the same after noon of the prom, JP goes back. This time the pants fitted him. Whew! I was getting a bit nervous for him. Anyhoo, KitKat and I rushed home after work to see JP in his tux, but first we had to pick up the orchid corsage. Dang! That one orchid with a few baby’s breath & greens cost 28 buckaroos. I could have easily plucked one of my orchids and did my own number. The hubs was still at work so KitKat helped him with his tie, etc. We just had to see thee “gurl” so KitKat and I went with Jeremy to Theresa’s house (mom of thee gurl). Moments later, her other gal friends came and took pictures. They got dropped off to the city by one of the gurl’s parent but they hired a limo afterwards to take them back home, but of course they had to “enjoy” the limo and take it for a ride. I’m sure fun was had for all of them. Is this something I have to look forward to for AC? I know JP plans to go to his senior prom, but “gurls” are different. Boys . . . all you need to do is rent their tux, whereas, gurls . . . it’s the dress, the hair, the accessories, the manicure, the pedicure, the eye-brow waxing, the make-up? Did I leave out anything else?

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