tariray's adventures

Thursday, October 19, 2006

More Masters..

Let's dim the limelights on Heny and take a look on the other Masters I met.

The first one I wont mention his name out of respect. Yes, of course he's respectful naman. Ang galing nyang artist.. he's a lithographist actually. Ang galing din nyang mag paint and he's been to different parts of the world for exhibits and stuff. Hanga ako sa kanya. The only hitch is that, ang dumi ng bahay nya! PRAMIS!! I know for a fact that I cant live in that house, not even work there. I've just been there for about an hour but no! di ko matake ang dumi-- alikabok, kalat, etc. Maybe that's just the way artists work. oh well...

The second one is Mr. Pagsi. 79 years old and still teaching freshman highschool and theater. I can say that I was sincerely touched by his words and wisdom. When I "grow up" I would want to be like him.. except for the fact na he has never incurred an absence from work even on his honeymoon! Di ko carry un..

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The last and noteworthy one is the 1st Pinoy Everest Sumiteer Dale Abenojar. I actually thought he was ugly (my expectation was in the likes of Romy Garduce, hahaha!) and so I lost a Jolly Value meal to RV. What striked me is that he was the kind of person who has a certain "yabang" but strives so hard to keep that "yabang" and actually delivers. There's nothing wrong with that. Kumbaga, the yabang is well earned. His Everest experience taught him humility and he openly admits to his misgivings. Ano ba? nawalan na nga ng toe yung tao ayaw pang tantanan ng media! kayo kaya umakyat sa everest!

Ayan, na inspire tuloy kami ni RV mag rock climb...


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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Meeting Heny

I do love to cook. I find it relaxing and challenging. They say I’m good, maybe I am. But for me, cooking is seldom an errand or something I need to do. It somehow soothes my nerves at the same time it makes me feel that I need to do my best so that the dish will turn out tasting great.

So needless to say, I love watching cooking shows and reading recipe books. I have learned allot from various references from cooking tips to presentation as well as the latest kitchen gadgets.

I have conquered white pasta, as well as lasagna. I now know how to cook perfect crispy pata and Kare-kare. Still on my list of recipes to master are Dinuguan and that perfect Chicken Galantina. Pastries I can handle too..But as for baking cakes… I’m under NI for this category—as in “NeedsImprovement”.

So when I heard that we were going to meet Heny, I was so excited. This is not Hetty the mascot ha! I'm talking about Heny Sison!


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Not everyone probably knows her, but for a food lover (and for people who love to cook) the name Heny Sison translates to perfectly crafted cakes and pastries. I have loved watching her show every Sunday.. though lately I don’t get to watch because of work..

Just being in her professional kitchen excited me, so much that I didn’t pass the chance of having my picture taken in that kitchen!



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It has been a “dream” of mine for the last 2 years to be able to take some baking classes from her school.. It’s a dream coz I dunno where to find the time to spare. And now I was in her school, meeting her and even eating cakes baked by her!

It was so nice of her to share her cooking with us. As I listened to her kwento of how she made it in the culinary world I somehow wished I could just drop everything and try and BE like her. Though educated with a finance background, she managed to steer her life into doing what she loved and she did it with flying colors.

Makes me wonder how long I will last in this career path.. One thing is now clear to me: I HAVE TO TAKE THOSE BAKING CLASSES..

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Fieldtrip!

The first activity for the Academy is the Tour of the Masters. For two days, we were to meet and interact with several Masters (of their crafts) with the objective of learning from their experiences and hardships that they have encountered along the way. Fine. Looked like a fieldtrip to me.

Watdafak, we needed to get up and be at “The Bus” by 6.30am! Don’t worry daw, breakfast will be provided. As if I can eat breakfast properly in a chugging bus. OK lang. No big deal.

But wait! Is says in the Employee code of discipline that sleeping during worktime is prohibited. Even if you were at “the Bus”.. Oh no! Ang laming pa naman sa “the Bus”

So there, they kept on babbling whatever things while “the Bus” was moving.. subconsciously I was waiting for one of them to ask kung saan ako bababa, sa LRT ba o sa Lawton? Hahaha..

Thursday, October 12, 2006

OKTOBERFEST NA!!

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The title says it all.. tis the season to drink, drink and get drunk! And of course we have a perfectly valid reason.. Oktoberfest na kaya!!

As I get sight of the colorful tents being set-up at the neighborhood Paseo, I slowly crave for that ice cold, slightly bitter but satisfying bottle of beverage that we call beer. Drinking beer reminds me of happy times at LB.. that particular 3+1 promo that sent me, nigger and rum scampering to sizzlers as early as 4PM (happy hour ends at 6PM). We would order what we thought we could hold and then just ask that waiter guy to bill it up but serve the bottles on a staggered basis. That was the moni days… sigh…

Back to oktoberfest…this is just the right time to spice up our pre-Holloween routines.. August to early October can get so boring. Add to that the fact that for some reason its exactly during these months that we feel the “peligrong pinansyal”. So how the heck are we gonna get the booze if we don’t have any moolah??

“Kung gusto maraming paraan, kung ayaw madaming dahilan…”

Bottom’s up!!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Friendster's Back!!

My first ever entry for this blog was about the day they took Friendster away.. from our office PC’s access. What a sad, sad day that was. Hushed tones, gloomy faces..since then I had seldom visited my account. Only doing so when I purposely go to internet cafés or when I visit my siblings’ place where they have cable internet.

But today we were shocked to have accidentally discovered that Friendster was again accessible! Oh yes!! You couldn’t wipe the smile of our faces and the glee in our voices! As if on cue, everyone immediately logged on to our respective accounts as if it was so important that we take this opportunity! Maybe there was a glitch in our MIS’ firewall, maybe someone accidentally left the system open, OR MAYBE the MIS guys suddenly just discovered the joy of friendster! Whatever the reason was, it was definitely something to be happy about! So far its still accessible, and it makes us wonder how long this will last…

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

My baby elephant

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Its not as if I havent seen an elephant at all.. of course a trip to the friendly neighborhood Manila Zoo would have sufficed. But there's something about being in Thailand that made seeing an elephant more special. They were normal fare there, they were revered and is the country's national symbol.

The lady guard's duty was hectic and so I realized on the 2nd day .My last fervent wish by then was for me to at least see, touch and have a picture taken with a live elephant.

And so my wish was granted while we were going through our TT market visit at Ayutthaya. There it was, standing at the sidewalk, my baby elephant. As I scrambled to get my camera, I remember reminding myself to capture the moment, make the most out of it and make sure I get to touch the elephant. Turns out, I dont just get to touch it, I even get to feed it! I was like a schoolgirl, feeding the baby e with some sort of cucumber with a wide grin on my face. Though baby e startled me at times-- he knew I had food so he kept bugging me to give him some.

I put off writing this post since I wanted to put an accompanying picture with it. I guess the picture will have to wait, as I only have a video of this event and my brother still hasnt extracted the image. At least I had some presence of mind to take a video, sayang lang dapat may picture din.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Thaina ang anghang!!

As a bonafide Filipina cook and self declared food critic, a trip to another culture most definitely should include a "food-trip". Since my interactions with the outside world was limited by my bussiness trip, I had to do something in order to make sure I get to eat authentic Thai dishes. Thanks (again) to my friend Lex, a trek (yeah, we walked!) to Pola pola did the trick of satisfying my tastebuds' curiosity. Now lets see what he ordered for me...


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That's the Tom Yum soup and papaya salad and whew were they both HOT!! These two dishes I will never forget as they are one of the spiciest I have ever tried. Well, I did ask for authentic thai.

I also got a taste of grilled prawn (but their prawn isnt like the prawns we have here-- their prawns were more similar to a Langostine-courtesy of Jamie Oliver!)

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Another treat by Khun Nara, Khun Atom, Khun Pom and Randy involved a spicy carrot salad version, a soup with sotanghon. Oh! and I wont forget that take out dish DM gave us for lunch-- some kind of green noodles with roast meat combo. looked weird but tasted good.

Thai people seemed to be fruit people as fresh fruits were sold everywhere. They already cut these up to bite sized pieces and packed them in transparent plastic bags with free air. Their handling process looked hygienic naman.. dunno lang where the air comes from.


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Same packaging style goes for street food. Noodle dishes were stacked high and different meat kebabs were also attractive. Got a taste of the noodle stacks but not of the kebabs.. I had the time to take pictures but no time to buy.. too bad.

Dessert was interesting. I never ordered those coco-milk preparations buti nalang-- dont really like them that much. DP gave us some kinds of cupcakes as snacks.

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They had what looked like cheese (except its not cheese), fruit (except its not fruit--twas more like a hopia to me) or kaong on top . Masarap naman. Pero isa pang pinakamasarap was the watermelon shake we had. Sarap talaga. Howcome when I make the same shake here, the solids separate from the ice? I will have to figure this out, though the fruits at Thailand were really really good.

I hope I get to try more cuisines at different countries-- cooked there too ha! Kelan pa kaya yun?