Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story...

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Scrapbook Saturday: Happy Birthday

Scrapbook Saturday



This is a long overdue scrapbook. I was supposed to make an accordion-style scrapbook to include a lot of photos (it's so hard to choose!), and realized I printed out bigger photo sizes than I intended. So here's one whole page of scrap done the traditional way.

For more scraps from SS participants, click on the Scrapbook Saturday button above. Happy SS, everyone!

If you're into hydraulic presses

I've an uncle who's a mechanical engineer who sometimes ask me to research stuff in the internet. You'd wonder how a girl like me would know something about hydraulics, bolts, piping, and all that stuff. I don't mind doing the favor, really. It gives me a reason to learn something I didn't know. Not that I care about them, but it's good to know stuff sometimes. Especially if these stuff doesn't come up in girl talks :-)

One very recent research job I did for him, I stumbled upon information about cool ways on making things out of metal. One way of doing this is called Hot Stamping. The principle is to heat the blank sheet at a press table very rapidly at high density to prepare it for subsequent hot forming processes.

AP&T is one of those companies that provide the metal forming industries with state of the art automation, presses and tooling; and has applied the most recent researches on the technology to their products. Their hydraulic press rebuild meets the demands for stamping, forming and deep drawing of today's high tech metals. If you're one of those guys who are into press robots and deep draw tooling and the likes, check out their site. I'll be sure to send my uncle right over there so he can explore AP&T more.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Meat and Sausage Macaroni Soup

I’ve been so amiss on my recipe postings, that I have accumulated quite a number worth posting but never got around to doing it. Primarily because the dish is gone even before I can whip out my camera. Cook something my husband likes, and that will be the flavor of the month. Not that it’s his duty, but he won’t care if I need a photo of the food before anybody dig in. Doesn't matter, everybody will be starving by the time I’m done cooking anyway, so there’s not much energy left to point and shoot. This one is taken on one of those rare moments when I took a bite or two during cooking time, thus, there was energy left to operate the cam before the main event. I think I gobbled up a couple of sausage slices.


Recipe

  • 2 medium sausages of choice, sliced
  • 200 grams lean ground meat of choice
  • olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, pressed, peeled and sliced
  • 5 medium-sized tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • 1 eggplant, chopped
  • 250 grams macaroni pasta
  • a handful of fresh basil leaves
  • salt and pepper

Cook the ground meat and the sausages separately. You don’t need to add oil in cooking, the meat will render what little fat they have during cooking. Set aside.

In a saucepan, heat olive oil. Sautee garlic. When fragrant, add tomatoes. Cover to cook.

When tomatoes are done, add chicken stock. Let simmer. Add in tomato paste and let simmer for a good minute. Add eggplant slices.

Stir in the pasta. Cook 2 minutes before the scheduled cook time in the package. Stir occasionally.

Add the ground meat and the sausage. Stir in basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste. This should cover the remaining cooking time of your pasta.

Serve hot.

Oh yeah, this was last month's flavor. This month is Chicken Basil.

Take me to HOME COOKING tab

Thursday, November 20, 2008

I need to lose weight. Seriously.

On my 3rd month of pregnancy, I gained 10 lbs. I maintained that gain after my 5th month. On the 6th month, it was uncontrollable. There was no particular food craving, but the craving was more of stuffing food into my mouth. To put it simply, I can't stop eating anything! I don't even want to give justice to my weight by putting it in print. A year after I gave birth, the 10 lbs gain is the hardest ever to shed off! It keeps on clinging to my midsection and arms up to this very day.

Next month, I am slated to wear a bikini while strolling the heavenly shores of Boracay. God. Help. Me.

I don't know what happened, but I seem to lose interest on jogging. I used to love the activity and used to do it with my then-boyfriend-now-boyfriend-with-wedding-band-husband. I don't know if it was entering motherhood and domestication, but I'm quite sure time has got a lot to do about the loss of interest. I'm a working mother who cooks for the family everyday and takes care of husband and baby as much as I can. Now, who's got the time for exercise?

The boyfriend-with-wedding-band and I thought it best to purchase an exerciser. At least with an exercise machine at home, we won't have to get out of the house to exercise. In addition to the orbitrek we already have, I plan to purchase a treadmill for use at home. If like me you're looking for an exercise machine you can use at home, read on home treadmill reviews at Treadmills Guru. They provide very useful information on treadmills anybody with plans on purchasing should read before doing anything.

So with less than a month, and the holiday feast on the offing, this is the masterplan: Cut back on rice, no greasy food, chomp on nuts and anything with monounsaturated fats, hiphop abs, and treadmill.

Wish me luck! Really. I need that.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Sometimes, I rant

I am only human; I also dislike some personalities.

And it's a total weird situation when a certain someone asked me if I could contribute to this person's (inadvertently, the one I don't like) project. The person who asked me didn't know my private feelings over this other person; so tell me, how do you politely decline to help?

I am also human; if people ask me for help, I'd do what I can. But I am not a hypocrite and I suck at sucking up and pretending everything's well and dandy when in fact I'd rather live in a place where annoying, insecure people mind their own businesses and I mind my own. (I know, too long, run-on sentence; sue me!)

But for the record, I do not hate annoying people. I merely dislike them. Annoying people are a challenge. They continually pry me out of my resolve to always take the high road. :P

Thank God for close friends and husbands. Otherwise, I won't have anybody to listen to me rant about these annoying people. I need to release the pent-up energy, you know, and trees are very unresponsive sometimes. I like a little interaction.

Now, back to my point. I don't want to have to do anything with this person, but I cannot say no to this someone who asked me. Something wrong with me?

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Our house has termites!

Yesterday was Xofia’s last day of antibiotic. She has shown lots and lots of improvements, and she’s eating well. The only problem that remains is the colds. She still got it even when I was giving her Allerkid everyday. The doctor advised us to free the whole house with any allergen. Apparently, vacuuming the big furry teddy bear was not enough; and I’ve resolved to vacuum the couch every other day.

When I was cleaning the whole house, which I often find myself doing most of these days, I notice several instances of termite attack in different places of the house. The house is mostly concrete so you’d understand why this wasn’t much of our concern. However on places that wood is used, the termites seem to be working doubly hard. It’s amazing how they even managed to cling to the floor mouldings mostly on the rooms upstairs. And here I thought termites need soil to make their homes. Apparently, I’m one termite ignorant. Termites Guide provides all the information I need on anything about termites, termite control, spotting colonies, and even spotting those that mimic their path of destruction. If you have termite problem, you might find this site helpful.

Excuse me while I catch up on my termite research.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Xofia's home and well

Finally, Xofia got discharged from the hospital Friday. We were finally out of the place that had been our home for the last week. Nothing can beat sleeping in your own bed, pooping in your own toilet and can you believe it, I actually missed cleaning the house! The moment we got home, I rearranged the furniture in the living room, and drag the husband to buy a vacuum cleaner. Today, I vacuumed the whole house. You wouldn't believe the dust! I've also been cooking the whole time. I always miss cooking, no question about that. And tomorrow, we'll be hosting a potluck lunch with friends. I'll be serving appetizers (he, he!) But was tasked to cook the binagoongang baboy by my beautiful friend Faith.

When cough is coupled with fever, it's always not a good sign. We brought Xofia to the clinic on Wednesday, and that's when her pedia diagnosed her with mild pneumonia. There were ralls but very, very faintly still. We brought home a mild antibiotic but she did not respond to that. Turns out the bacteria that caused her pneumonia was of stronger strain. By Friday, there were ralls from both lungs. In the ER, I bailed out the moment they had to insert a needle into Xofia's vein. I just can't stand watching my daughter in pain, so I stayed outside bawling like a girl. Gosh!

The first IV antibiotic given to her caused her watery stools, so we had to change to a stronger medicine. By Thursday this week, she was able to tolerate the oral antibiotic that would replace the IV. Right now, she's back to teasing me and keeping me busy shielding the keyboard from her. It was so difficult, how, for so long, she didn't smile, and I kept my silly self from crying everytime she's in pain.

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