Wax on, wax off

Last weekend, I persuaded the hubby to give our car the long overdue waxing that it needed. Two (or was it three ?) hours later, our Subaru was shining. Really shining. And it passed the bottle-slide-test too. Hubby placed the bottle of wax on the roof and watch it slide down. Nice.

Notice the "Reserved" signs reflected on the bumper, that's actually painted on the parking slot.
I took a lot of pictures thinking that we'd better enjoy this moment as much as we can because given the time that it took us to finish the 3 stage Meguiar's waxing process, I don't see how I can persuade hubby to do this again soon.

p.s. : he did enjoy himself very much on the last and final stage, it's that part where you can actually see the shiny coat appear when you use the orbital buffer.

Related link: Popcorns pics entry

Chopsuey

I know that veggies are good for the body and still, I am a carnivore 98% of the time. The only veggies that I eat are salads and the occasional ones that would stray onto my spoon because they're too small to weed out.

Hubby and I were shopping for groceries at our neighborhood Asian store when I saw a pack of Ginisa Mix (from Manila) on a shelf. The picture looked so yummy that I decided to try and cook some for dinner that night.

This is the first time that we've cooked this dish and frankly, I don't even know if this is supposed to look this way. Leave me a message and let me know if there's anything we missed or did wrong.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb Shrimp


• 1 small bunch of Broccoli


• Straw mushrooms (half can)


• Quail Eggs (half can)


• Baby Corn (half can)


• Snow peas


• chopped garlic


• sliced onions


• olive oil

Cornstarch mixture:

• 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed w/ 1 cup water


• 1 tbsp soy sauce (to taste)


• 1/2 tsp chicken powder (for flavor)

Steps:

1. Blanch shrimp in salted boiling water for 1 minute, drain.


2. Blanch broccoli in boiling water


3. In a skillet / wok, saute garlic in a little oil.


4. Add the onions


5. When the onions are caramelized, add all the other ingredients.


6. Stir the veggies around a little and add the cornstarch mixture.


7. Cook until the sauce thickens, do not overcook the vegetables.

Dreams

We were at a party yesterday and a friend told me that he dreamt of me a few days ago. In his dream, my verdeng papel was just approved and I was pregnant. His wife then told me that when he woke up, he turned to her and said , "Hun, nasa kanila na ang lahat...".

I didn't know what to say. [Later, I'd find out that hubby had the same reaction.]

On one hand, I was glad to hear the good news but the timing just doesn't seem right - not at the time, anyway. We've always made our baby plans clear from the start. We'd like to have children some day but if the timing were up to us, we'd wait a year or two before we start on that path. Now, my friend's dream alarmed me because getting the verde thingie while I was pregnant in his dream implies one of two things:
(a) that it'll be a year or two before we get our verde thingie
(b) or that we'll get pregnant soon.

Scary, no ?

Some time later, it hit me - why question these gifts ? It would be nice, right ? More than nice, in fact, so now, I'm quite amused. We're still scared but we're also excited at what the future might bring. One thing's for sure, it's gonna be one heck of a roller coaster ride

Happy at 4

I just realized that it's been 4 months and 4 days since we got married. Time flies, huh ?

A lot of things have come up since we moved here and I'm glad that I don't have to deal with these issues on my own. I've always been a very independent person and I used to despise look down on those who can't seem to make any decisions on their own. I'm a changed woman now As much as I value my independence, I also value the support that my husband gives me. Most of all, I'm glad that I'm married to a very wonderful guy who is totally in synch with me and the world that we live in.

I love and appreciate ...

... that he'd wake up in the middle of the night to tuck me in because I always kick off the blankets when I sleep.

... that even though he couldn't get a full night's sleep sometimes because I had invaded his space and taken over the entire bed, he'd still smile at me in the morning.

... that on those days when he'd wake up before me, I'd wake up to the smell of breakfast cooking.

... that whenever we're eating out, he'd order something he doesn't like because he thinks that I love it.

... that even though he's used to good food at home, he doesn't complain and make any demands that I play cook and make him something good to eat.

I love that he is who he is.

Boston, MA

Hubby and I drove up to MA (Boston suburbs) last weekend to do some sight-seeing and apartment hunting.

We didn't have any luck apartment-wise, all the units that we've seen are tiny compared to the space that we have now - and mind you, we live in a condo so there isn't really a lot of space to start with. Some are also downright depressing... it didn't help that the temperature was around 90 degrees out there and that the airconditioning wasn't turned on in the model units. We felt that we were in purgatory (we first thought that it felt like hell, but we decided to be kind and take this down a notch).

Oh, there were also some beautiful apartments. The thing is, the price was beautiful too. You really get what you pay for Hubby and I fell in love with a complex that even had a private theater in the clubhouse, you can use that and even have it reserved for private parties - for free. How cool is that ? Unfortunately, we both weren't willing to pay extra for the luxury. Looks like we're gonna have to schedule more trips out sometime and look for more options.

Of course, the trip wasn't entirely for business purposes... we took a detour into downtown Boston and enjoyed the sights. We got to go to the Museum of Science - which we both enjoyed... and later on to MIT to check out robotics-related stuff in their museum.

<-- Museum of Science We also got to have lunch at Quincy Market, hubby didn't really relish the fact that after waiting in line for our food, we also had to scout around and aggressively look for a table.

Baby back ribs

I've been looking for a way to prepare baby back ribs for some time now and I finally found a great recipe at Cantonese Cooking's blog.

The recipe calls for a 2 step process, the first of which is to season the ribs with a rub mixture to flavor the meat.

• Magical BBQ Rub:
  3/4 C. McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning
  1 and 1/4 C. brown sugar
  1 oz. paprika
  2 tbl. cayenne pepper (optional)

The ribs are then left in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

To bake the ribs, wrap them in foil and bake for a few hours using low heat (325 degrees) - The original recipe suggests 3 hours for 3 lbs. When the meat is tender, take them out, drain and then pour your favorite bbq sauce and set to broil. Since we don't keep a bottle of bbq sauce in stock at home, we opted to just make our own using the stuff that we already have - and by that, I am referring to those little packets of catsup and honey that you get from fast food places *smile*.

• Our Special BBQ sauce mix: Mix 4 tbsps (or packets) of honey to 5 tbsps (or packets) catsup, add 1 tbsp soy sauce. Add 1 tbsp of vinegar, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Voila! Granted, our presentation needs a little more work, but the ribs came out beautifully tender and juicy!

* note to self, need more salt.

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Original recipe : Part 1 and Part 2