I sorta kidded my boss today for her to give me a bar of chocolate.  then she asked me why should i get one among all the other teamleads.  I was like well, my team members did pretty well in their quality monitorings.  and she was like prove it! so we went up to the board for the top ten list and 5 of them were from my team.  hahaha!  i know i know… it was kinda a lot of effort just to get a chocolate bar but then again, getting a chocolate bar because of your effort (even if it was not a success) makes it taste a lot better.  and besides i wouldn’t dare bring up the topic if i was on the losing end.  hehehe… to my team great job guys without you i won’t get a cadbury chocolate bar! woohooo!  not really my favorite chocolate in the world but a cadbury chocolate bar is a cadbury chocolate bar!

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A dress fit for a very special lady for a very special occasion.

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This is one dress that I’d love to wear when I attend a special occasion.  I saw this at Filippo in Ayala, Cebu City.  I don’t know who made it but he/she does know how to make a girl feel special.  The cut of the dress is a bit ordinary but what I love about the dress is the details.  It’s made up of a couple of different fabrics.  Although, it has small flowers on it, it still looks classy and chic.  Another thing that I love about this dress is, it’s so classy that it won’t go out of style.  So very Filippo.  Whoever owns this boutique have a very good sense of style.  I’m thinking it might be a Kate Torralba dress for she loves to make a matching bag to the dresses that she makes.  But I’m not a hundred percent sure.  There are a lot of great designers out there, here and abroad but nevertheless, I’d definitely wear this dress if I can afford it.

My dad is half-chinese and he was born and raised in the Philippines.  He is a tailor and started to earn his living when he was 16 year old.  He does not know how to do household chores because he was spoiled by his elder sisters but he sure can cook.  He doesn’t cook that much but when he does, it’s really delicious. He is my worst critique.  He’s very hard to please.  Here’s my version of his Chicken Adobo.

Ingerdients:

1/2 kilo chicken breast (cut into small pieces)
Medium sized ginger (pealled and cut into thin slices)
2/3 cup Silver Swan soy sauce
1/4 cup Datu vinegar
1/2 cup Baguio cooking oil
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
a dash of AJinomoto

Instructions:
1. Heat the pan on a medium heat and heat the cooking oil in the pan.
2.  Once the oil is heated, saute the ginger until it’s golden brown.  Then put the chicken breast into the pan.  Stir it occassionally and wait until the chicken turns opaque.  Season the chicken with a dash of salt, pepper and ajinomoto then stir. 
3. Add the soysauce and the vinegar and wait for it to reduce. Stir occassionally.
4. Once the soy sauce and vinegar has reduced a bit, add the water then stir it again and cover the pan until it boils.
5. When the sauce starts boiling, lower to heat to low and let it continue cooking until the chicken is cooked and the sauce is reduced to half.  Stir occasionally while waiting for the sauce to reduce.

Note:  You may adjust the seasoning while you’re waiting for the sauce to reduce.  Just be careful when you add the salt so that the dish won’t become too salty.

Have you ever noticed in the old movies when they punish kids especially when the setting is on a ship? They make the kids peel potatoes. Like how difficult is it to peel potatoes? I have peeled a lot of potatoes in my life and trust me it isn’t as punishing as what other people think. Unless of course if we a knife with a blunt blade. But if you use a sharp knife or a peeler, peeling potatoes is like child’s play. Peeling squash is much harder to do. The squash in the Philippines is very hard so even if you use a very sharp knife it will take a while to peel. I guess this is one of the reason why people in Cebu no longer peel their squash when they cook it. Now you would think wouldn’t it be hard to eat if it’s as tough as I said it is? The answer is no. I am wondering myself but no matter how tough the squash is when it’s raw, it becomes really soft when you cook it. Like the potatoes. It’s a tough crop when it’s raw but it could become really soft when you cook it.

I really enjoy peeling potatoes. It’s very relaxing. You should try it. Use a knife though when you peel it because you can observe how the skin curls when you peel it in a circular motion. Or if you’re relly in a hurry, you can use a peeler.

1:50PM June 12,2008.  Just finished downloading my pictures from my cellular phone.  Finally!  It’s been a month since I’ve been trying to download them to my computer.  I was thinking that I needed to get a Bluetooth software for my Sony K700i phone installed on this Asus A8LE laptop of mine which is running on Windows Vista Ultimate.  It turned out, I just need to press the Bluetooth button and Vista will automatically find the software for the Bluetooth on the laptop and install it so that I’d be able to use it.  Whew…  Thank God I had the courage to press it.  I’m so HAPPPPYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gina’s mom is a loving mom.  She loves to strike a conversation with her kids.  When Gina comes home from work she would usually ask her if she had eaten.  Or would ask her about how was work and how’s her family doing.  However, when her mom was about to turn 60 years old, her mom started to ask a question again after fifteen minutes she have asked it.  Thinking that this was just because of old age, a conversation would usually end up in a quarrel because her mom would ask the same question over and over again.  Then it became worse.  Her mom would usually leave the house driving a car and will arrive home in a taxi.  When they ask her where the car is, her normal reply would be, what car?  Good thing they’ll find it in the parking lot where she left it.  Then Gina had another argument with her mom because she was asked the same question a dozen times.  It was the worst argument that they ever had.  But after that conversation Gina never had any conversation with her mom for her mom can no longer recognize her or any person in the household.  It turned out, her mom has alzheimer.  And asking questions over and over again was already the indicator that her sickness was progressing.  Now, Gina can no longer strike up a conversation with her mom.  Because everytime that she wants to talk to her, her mom will just look at her blankly.  There will be times that she will remember Gina’s kids or her husband but never her own daughter.  Never Gina.  Until the day that her mom died, her mom never remembered her.

So when was the last time that you talked to the people that you love?  When was the last time that you apologized to the people whom you have had arguments with?  When was the last time that you answered patiently when your mom asked you the same question over and over again?

This is a testimony. A year or so ago, I had a bad case of pimples. I didn’t have them when I was growing up so even my parents were wondering why I had them. So I tried to use different products for cleaning my face. Things that I thought will not harm my skin. But none of them worked. Then I came across an interview of Dr. David Colbert who worked with Cate Blanchet and Rachel Weisz where he recommended Cetaphil for people who has sensitive skin since it is a gentle cleanser and it is acid free. I have seen this product in the shelves of the supermarkets but not a lot of people buy it. I guess it’s because it doesn’t come in a fancy packaging but what the heck, why not give it a shot anyway if I feel any irritation I’ll stop using it. But when I tried it, I was surprised. It really is gentle. I didn’t get any dry feeling after I used it unlike the other products that I have used. It is so gentle that I can even use it without using water to rinse it off. And since I can use cotton to wipe off the excess solution from my face I would take it with me even when I go to the beach or when I travel. Because I like to travel in a bus that is not air conditioned so my face is exposed to dirt. So just a little dub here and there and then wipe it off with a piece of cotton, my face looks clean and fresh again. And it is so effective that I would only use it once a day at times and just splash some water to wash my face to freshen up. Now my skin is smooth and pimple free. My friends would even tell me that I don’t look my age. No kidding. I know this sounds like an advertisement but it isn’t. It’s just a testimony so that other people could try Cetaphil out because it did work for me. We’ll never know it might work for other people as well.