Despite the current threat of family imposed deportation once again, I’m feeling a bit calm. I suppose this is because there is still hope, but also because I feel that maybe I do need to let go a little. My mom was right when she told me that I’m the type of person who places value not so much in monetary or material things (though I am very sentimental) but rather in the relationships I have, and tangible experiences. However, I think that it’s this very value that I place on these things that have kept me from growing. Like I’ve said so many times before, I am always afraid, afraid of a lot of things. Afraid of new things, afraid of something different, something away from what I’m comfortable with, separated from people I know and places I know and things that are important to me. In that sense, I’ve kept myself in one place. For nearly a year, I’ve kept myself in more or less the same place. Maybe I do need to be placed elsewhere, elsewhere being elsewhere: maybe abroad, maybe back in school, maybe in a stable job that will keep me away from the house, away from what I’m used to, away from what I’ve been holding on to so dearly and force me to move from where I’ve been standing.
2012
Goals:
- read at least three books a month. More is better.
- either finalize post-grad studies plan or find a stable job.
- be as financially independent as possible.
- create something once a month or more.
- blog at least thrice a month.
- learn something new, such as a language or a skill.
Under Construction (again)
Currently rethinking the direction I want to go with Sweets and Afters. Hopefully I’ll have decided and made the necessary changes (if any) by a little bit after New Year.
Until then, don’t be like me and eat too much during the holidays.
Reddle
I love this new layout!
One of the reasons why I stopped blogging was because I couldn’t find a nice layout replacement. True story. Obviously, I am extremely shallow.
Happy Birthday, Gelatissimo!
By some amazing coincidence:
1) It’s Gelatissimo‘s 3rd Birthday tomorrow.
2) Gelatissimo is having a 50% off promo on all their cups and cones tomorrow.
3) My girlfriends and I are having dinner at Trinoma tomorrow.
4) THERE IS A GELATISSIMO BRANCH IN TRINOMA.
I AM READY.
I’m pretty happy as I only found out about the promo today, while we had planned our dinner earlier in the week. Lucky! I’m sure my friends and I are going to stop by tomorrow. I only recently got to try Gelatissimo’s gelato, and I was not disappointed. Although slightly pricey, it surely does deliver. My first encounter with their gelato even gave birth to the gelato vagina. (A definite plus.) :D
Make sure you pass by one of their branches tomorrow, as the promo will only be for a day!
Gelatissimo has branches in Serendra, Trinoma, Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center Cebu and SM City & Northwing Cebu.
A Poor Foodie
My main problem with liking food is that I’m technically broke.
Although I’ve been working recently (when I started this blog, I was unemployed), I haven’t received my first pay yet. When I think about it, it’s pretty amazing that I’m not completely broke yet, but the nature of my job offers me a lot of free food and easy travel so I haven’t been spending much, either.
I don’t really make a lot of money, and the little money I put aside in my wallet usually goes to, well, my stomach. This isn’t so much of an issue really; I don’t care much about the price of food, just that it tastes good, but in order to be diverse (or, in order to be able to write dessert reviews), one has to be ready to spend. And when I say spend, I don’t just mean on the food itself, but on transportation, or in my case, gas. I’m incredibly lucky to own a car, but it’s in no way easy, or cheap, owning one.
I suppose I’m frustrated with how I haven’t been able to update this blog regularly with food escapades, as I don’t have the funds to really go on food escapades at the moment. But I guess that just means I should get creative.
The difficult thing about loving food:
The difficult thing about loving food is that it costs money.
More on this tomorrow.
absence
I know I haven’t written in ages, but maybe I should do some reading, for once.
Hocus Pocus! : Halloween with Lipton Yellow Label Tea
The life of a modern day witch isn’t easy. Life simply isn’t as laid back as it was before. One can’t go around anymore in a black dress, a black cat and a black hat going ‘Hocus Pocus!’ like we used to. Well, you could, but it’d just be weird by ‘modern’ standards. As a nice consolation however we are surrounded by modern marvels: cars instead of brooms (not as earth friendly though), computers instead of enchanted mirrors (but the internet connection can lag so much…), and organic food instead of poisoned apples… well, modern magic isn’t as reliable as it’s all set up to be, and unfortunately, modern magic can’t take care of all of our problems, but there are still some old witch’s tricks that one can use in a pinch.
For example, a few days ago, I was invited to my uncle’s Monster Bash (or costume birthday party). I was excited, but had no idea what to wear, or what to go as. It didn’t help that I had no cash on hand to go out and buy a costume. (Unfortunately, there are no modern ways of instantly procuring money, and if there’s a spell for it, I don’t know it. Someone teach me!)
I was thinking about what I was going to do, when I had an idea. There are still a few tricks from the old days that modern witches such as myself can make use of; a concoction that would turn me into a witch. A little modern day magic: or as I call it, Hocus Pocus!
Hocus Pocus! Tea
Recipe:
One bag Lipton Yellow Label Tea
Hot Water
Cranberry Juice
5 Cloves (or more, to taste)
Dry Ice
**The dry ice will not only cool your tea, but will also make your tea bubble bubble toil and trouble much like a witch’s cauldron!**
I finished brewing the tea and stored it for when we got to the party. I didn’t want to turn into a witch too early! We arrived to a band playing and food sprawled out across a long table.
Everyone had come, revealing their true natures!
I took a sip of my tea, did a little ~*HOCUS POCUS*~ and…
*POOF*
I was a witch! And my mom was a She-Devil! (Explains a lot.) Dad had become a Military Man.
And my boyfriend had become a zombie! Yikes! Well, at least I was sure that our love would last beyond the grave. <3 I made it a point to stay away from my cousin, who had turned into a pastor and took every chance he had to throw Holy Water at me.
We danced and partied the night away, (I stuffed my face, as usual) and had a great time.
I had successfully released my inner witch, just in time for the best Halloween Party, thanks to Lipton Yellow Label Tea! Where oh where would this little modern day witch be without her tea?
With Lipton Yellow Label Tea, the PossibiliTEAS are Endless!
You can view the full set of photos on Flickr here!
quandary
“I was somewhere else. I thought I was someplace but now I didn’t know what place. I seemed to be inside foreign worlds where there was some kind of troubling camaraderie — as if a haunting joke was known to everyone but me and yet faintly I knew it too.”
—— David Lynch
