Cooking Chinese Today

The goal to healthier us (that is, Chuy and I) started early last year. I can't remember exactly what triggered it but we just realized that we were not invincible. We are just as vulnerable to different lifestyle diseases if we don't do something about our health. For starters, we exercised regularly and vowed to decrease red meat in our diet, among other things. That meant I had to come up with healthier yet enticing new dishes for Chuy. 

I was never a fan of fish fillet dishes. That had to change though because my options are now limited. With red meat out of the scenario, half of what I used to cook with was gone from the list. Of the few fish dish that I like, my favorite is the fish fillet with garlic from Hap Chan. I searched for recipe but was not hopeful that I would get one. In fact, I was OK with a recipe close or similar to it. But thanks to a Filipino doctor, mom and blogger in Toronto, I got a recipe.  

I added stir fried bokchoy as a side dish, a tip that I got from 1 of the comments in that post. Chuy loved it, I loved it. Go try it. Kung Hei Fat Choy!

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Tanders

Gone were the days when I can stay up to the wee hours of the night and get to work just in time.

Last Friday, my girl friends and I decided to meet up in our favorite tambayan back in college. All throughout the night, we were feeling nostalgic and tried to compare what happened during our 'college days' with that night. Which made us come up with a list. Well, technically, it was me who sorted it out in a list.

You know you are getting old when...

• Loud music gives you headache.
• It irritates you when you can't carry a normal conversation around a noisy place.
• You feel that the band's music is interrupting your conversation and you give the vocalist a knowing look.
  
• Everyone around you is wailing, shouting and standing up in their seats, while you stay in yours and wonder what's wrong with them.
• You reminisce all the fun stuff you did... 10 years ago.
• You wish that the next band plays acoustic. You even pray for it!
• You get drank after your 2nd bottle of beer and you still have buckets of unopened ones on the table.
  
• You start to get shocked by minis and tube tops.
• Instead of thinking, I won't wear that (referring to minis and tube tops), you tell yourself, "I will never let my kids wear stuff like that."
  
• The guy on the next table gives you a smile and you give him a 'don't-even-think-about-it-cause-I'm-way-older-than-you' look.
• The reason you go out is really to bond with friends, catch-up and don't give a care about getting drunk anymore. Most of the times, at least.
  
• You realized at the end of the night, it's not them, but you, who's out of place.
  
• You go home at 10pm and it feels like 2 am and you can't even wake up on time to get to work

It was fun doing that, for one night. But as we were about to part, we knew that the next time we meet, it would be in a coffee shop, with instrumental music in the background. Or anywhere where we we didn't have to shout over each other's head to be heard.

I know you can add up to the list, and I am interested to know. You know you are getting old when...? Read more!

You may call it narcissism if you'd like. But it's not.

This blog is probably my longest existing online 'thing' (aside from my Yahoo e-mail address). I like trying anything new online. I remember convincing my med school classmates to make their own Friendster accounts so that I'd have friends the first time it came out. When everyone had one, I deleted mine. I also remember creating a Multiply account for sharing of pictures and blogs. But that too didn't last when almost everyone I knew had one. Just a few months ago, I deleted my Facebook account because I got too fed up reading the news feed. I created a new one, but just for updates from family and friends.

I just realized then that my blog survived the 'delete' button because unlike everyone else, no one can create my posts, much less, immortalize my thoughts in here. In this page, I am the boss of me.

I blog to immortalize my thoughts. So that one day, when I re-read my posts, I'd have a reason to laugh and as a bonus, looking back would be more vivid. Sometimes I read to share my journey so that others may learn, if they want to. This was evident during my DTTB (Doctor to the Barrios) experience. But that only comes second to immortalizing my thoughts. I also blog to vent out, share amazing discoveries or tips or just create random thoughts.

But I know I will continue blogging mainly for myself. No, not to brag or bombard the readers with me-posts. But just to extend the life of my thoughts and experiences, hopefully, as long as the web lasts. It's always a bonus when someone picks up something from my entries or they get inspired. That's the icing on my cake.

This is my entry for the The Blog Rounds.
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'Goto' Experience

After 2 years and 2 months, I was back in a rural community in April. I was reminded again of the things I love about the barrio and the things that I didn't like so much. I missed the laid back life, the warm people and most especially, the food. So in pursuit of the best things in that rural community, best things to eat that is, Ave and I tried the highly recommended 'eateries' in the area.

One of our adventure was visiting Marimar. Ave was excited because it was highly recommende by the people in the staff house. This family-run 'bulalohan' is famous for its bulalo (of course), chicharong baboy and 'anything-beef' dish, including kaldereta and 'goto'.

Photo from here

So off we go. We ordered chicharon and goto. When the orders came, we realized that we made a bad order and were thinking of the other type of goto. You know, the usual goto you see in Manila. Goto of Batangas was not what's on our mind! We didn't know what to do or how to eat our orders, especially when we got to smell it. We tried to do what the others were doing, drown our goto in calamansi, but to no avail, we couldn't eat it!

The owner probably noticed our worried look so she approached us and said, "Naku dapat sinabi niyo taga-** kayo, di kasi kumakain ng goto mga taga-**." We laughed in relief and Marimar advised us to order caldereta instead. We brought our goto home and gave it to our Batangeno housemates.

What was funny is we were only several hours away from Manila and we felt so alienated at that time. All because of goto. Our Batangueno friends said it's an acquired taste and once you get use to it, it tastes great. Especially if you don't think about the smell and what it is made of. In fact, I totally understood when a colleague said, "Just think that it's the same thing as your burong isda/balaw balaw. I couldn't take the smell of that thing, much less eat it." Owww.
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