UPTAKES

What do I do when I have work due soon and I haven’t started it yet? I do something else. Just like today. Since I have an abstract due on Saturday and I’m already beginning to panic (because I have no idea what to write and the publication I’m sending it to, I’ve been told, is so discerning), I decided to divert my attention a little bit. I cooked dinner. (I suppose this is also my way of taking control of the kitchen again after the fiasco on Sunday.) I fried fish and garnished it with lemon and made a cream-based vegetable dish following a favorite recipe from my mom. Some pictures–because I’m kinda proud of my creation. Hee.

Do you see how perfectly fried the fish was? I did say I was going to go with low and/or medium heat after Sunday’s fiasco, but fish, if you wanted it fried, had to be cooked in high heat. That I got from a Kitchenomics show I caught years and years ago, which for some reason, I never forgot.

And do you see the fusion of colors in the vegetable dish? The reds and the greens combining gorgeously? Nigella would be so proud of me. Haha.

And for dessert, have you ever tasted real raspberries and blackberries? Not me, so dessert, which was bourbon fudge brownie with raspberries and blackberries in light cream (not so light actually, if you put all of them together) was just marvelous. I wish I could say I created it, too, but no, credit must be given where it’s due. It was Fama who made it, and it was her idea.

And because the berries in cream (note: in cream!) were so good, and we already ran out of brownies and still had some apple pie, guess what we came up with next? Here, which was, in fact, much more marvelous, and thus the already half-eaten apple pie:

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fantastic cook. I’m more of a hit and miss cook. (Well, I do have my own house specialties, but that I suppose would be another story.) It’s most times too salty, most times overcooked, sometimes too oily, sometimes bland. But there are times when I get everything just right. I think tonight is one of those. Happy sigh. Now, if I could just write the effin abstract, it would all be perfect.

I wish I could burst out into ‘Good Morning Singapore’ today, just like Tracy doing ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ in Hairspray, but I don’t think I can. Today is looking bleak. It’s overcast. I have a full day: cook (and cook slow and right and safe) right about after I finish this, eat, take a shower and get dressed, go to school, download and print out a number of articles from an online journal, download and print out recipes, scan some documents, email said documents, pass by The Deck for take-away, and on my way home, drop by the supermarket to get cheese, tuna, broccoli, sage, potatoes, and pork chops. When I get home, I have to read the articles, read an essay I was supposed to have read yesterday, and go back to my transcription. With this kind of day, it’s kind of difficult to start belting out some tunes. Sigh.

Then again, Hairspray is still stuck in my head, and I just can’t help but smile. I haven’t had this much fun watching a movie in a long time. Well, I liked Bourne Ultimatum and enjoyed watching it, but Hairspray? It was just fun. Fun and happy and gay and inspiring and something I could and would watch over and over again. The moment Tracy started singing ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ and sashaying around, I knew the movie would rock and I would totally love it. There were many other delightful surprises in the movie for me (e.g., the black and white versions of ‘New Girl in Town,’ Christopher Walken’s and a transformed John Travolta’s ‘You’re Timeless to Me,’ that Cyclops and Amanda Bynes could sing, Queen Latifah’s poignant ‘I Know Where I’ve Been,’ and the ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’ finale), but this is not a review. This is just to share my Hairspray joy. So, here you go (this one’s especially for those in the Philippines who start work today after a long weekend):

I love, love, love this whole sequence, but my favoritest part is at around 1:05 when she gets left by the bus because she’s strutting her stuff until around 0:45 when she gets on top of a truck and belts ‘I love you Baltimore.’ I suppose I’d be belting out some tunes this morning after all.
Good morning Singapore
Every day’s like an open door
Every night is a fantasy
Every sound’s like a symphony

Have a good day, y’all!

Today, I got one of the biggest scares of my life. I woke up pretty late, and was hurrying to get something cooked so I could eat, as I also woke up hungry. I went to the kitchen, took some sausages out of the freezer, got the frying pan on the stove, put in some oil, turned on the stove to high heat, then threw in the sausages. I knew when I did that, it was going to sizzle, because, well, I didn’t thaw the meat and the pan was very hot, so I backed away from the stove as far as I could. And sizzle it did. Smoke started to come out of the pan, too. I thought I should probably turn the heat off or set it to medium for a little bit, just for the smoke to go away, but the oil was sizzling so ferociously I didn’t want to get near the pan. I decided to wait for the sizzling to let up. Then, from where I was standing, a good four feet away, I saw that the fire under the pan was beginning to crackle. I thought, for a second, the pan would catch fire, but then I thought that wasn’t possible. And the moment I thought that, fire, about 6 to 7 inches, suddenly leapt out from the pan. For a second or two, I just stared at it, unable to think. It seemed all thought had left me. When thought returned, it was, “God, I’m going to die.”

I suppose I thought of more than that though, because the next thing I did was run to the stove and turn the burner off. When it did not put out the fire, I took the pan out of the stove and threw it on the floor. The sausages jumped off, the pan hit the floor, then almost immediately, the fire went out. I suppose, while all this was going on, I called out to my flatmate in what would be described as a terrified voice, because she rushed out, alarmed. When she got to the kitchen though, the fire was already out, and I was standing there, shaking, and still unable to believe what just happened. I still don’t know how the fire died just like that. I threw the pan on the floor, because I needed to find some cloth to put the fire out with and didn’t think I could do that while holding the pan at the same time. I didn’t know it would make the fire go out. Whatever. I’m just glad it turned out to be the right thing to do.

I can still see the events of the afternoon in my head, and the whole thing still scares me. The lesson? I’m not really sure. I just know, beginning today, I’d thaw frozen meat before I fry it, and go with low to medium heat. And if I wake up hungry, I’d go have cereals first.

Don’t you just think this is genius? You can exercise, learn English, and learn to defend yourself all at the same time. You can also pick up a nice little ditty along the way. Have a nice day, you all!

“It’s time for you to organize the different elements of your life and get things on a coherent schedule. Your work or school obligations, your friendships and your romantic relationships are all pulling you in different directions, and the problem will only get bigger if you put off getting things in line. Be a lot more structured about how you plan your days — get it down to the minute if you have to. These drastic measures don’t have to be permanent, but they’ll get you going down the right track.”

that chunk above is my horoscope for the day. it’s crazy how i’ve done nothing the past few weeks but try to organize my life, and and still, the horoscope i get tells me to do more of it. then again, as i begin thinking about how i’ve spent the last few weeks, i realize that, perhaps, what it’s telling me is to organize ALL aspects of my life, not just certain aspects of it, as i’m prone to do. in particular, i think it’s telling me to start attending to my school obligations–instead of organizing and re-organizing my photos and uploading them. ahem. i also think it’s telling me to start transcribing my data and writing my first chapter–instead of starting this. ahem. ahem.