uGoGirlFriday

My friend and I are going to Guimaras on the 19th, “the next Boracay” in the Philippines. We’re both pretty excited about it since we’ve heard so many great stories about it, especially about the diversity of flora and fauna within the area.

While browsing, I came across this trivia:

The Guimaras Island is famous for producing the sweetest mangoes in the world. Guimaras mangos are reportedly served at the White House and Buckingham Palace. Guimaras’ largest event of the year is The Manggahan Festival (the Mango Festival).

I’ll definitely try their Mangoes. Hehehe.

We currently don’t have any idea where to stay there though. But we only hope the places we end up with have decent comfort rooms. Preferably with American Standard sinks, shower, and toilet bowl that have hot running water please? My friend would absolutely die without hot running water. It’s like the soul of every accommodation he’s been into. That criterion can be a make or break of his reviews of every accommodation. Seriously.

Anyway, I can’t wait til the 19th! It’s actually going to be my first time to travel with a guy best friend. How cool is that? ^_^

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Ahh I’m so stuffed. I just came home from my friend’s birthday party (it was more of a feast actually). It was a great party, lots of dancing, singing, and games too! My friend is half Spanish so the food they served was amazing. I ate so much that I’m having trouble breathing right now, yet I can’t seem to get enough. My friend’s mom even gave me some treats to take home!

Anyhow, it’s a good thing that I am already enrolled in yoga class and i’m taking a weight loss product . At least I won’t need to worry about all the calories I took in earlier. Hehe. I think I won’t be able to sleep until the food in my stomach is digested. Maybe I’ll just blog for a while.

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Last July 2, on our monthly general assembly, my boss insisted that we each cook a dish and bring it for our first-ever pot luck lunch. This was initiated by our endless, but more than de rigueur, grievances with our everyday catered lunches (as one of my officemates described our lunches, “You’d envy those that are starving because at least they aren’t FORCED to eat these.”).

Anyhow, the pot luck lunch is actually a contest on who can cook better than our caterer, and who can bring the most appetizing dish. At the end of the almost-two-buffet-rounds-per-person lunch, my boss asked us to vote for the best dish (excluding the ones we prepared). Guess which dish got 5 out of 12 votes? My Chicken Curry! ^_^

Considering that it’s the only decent dish I can cook (minus all the fried ones), and I just learned it this year for my sister’s birthday, I think I may have a future in cooking. I ought to start trying out new dishes. Perhaps even enroll in a cooking school such as http://www.baychef.com/ and try to make a living out of it afterwards. Hmmmm…

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I quoted the title from Marcella Hazan. I agree. As Julia Child put it, “Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music.” The best part about cooking, unlike other type of arts, is that you get to eat it!

I have talked to several chefs and experienced cooks. And whenever I ask them what their secret is, they usually say, “Make sure that when you cook, you do it wholeheartedly. Because how you’re feeling while you’re preparing the food often reflects in your cooked dish.” Well, that, and Laiko Bahrs, “When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste.”

Also, it’s always a plus to have a great cooking instructor and to enroll in a culinary school like http://www.wci.edu/.

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