Goin nuts for Christmas

My annual giveaway this year is a bunch of coconut baked goodies. Anna's running a cold, that means she had to rely on my taste buds. I'm already nauseated from all the macaroons that I've been munching on.

I also had to cook a quick light dinner. We were at Costco earlier buying ingredients, and had a sample of the sharp cheddar with truffles. That made our day.

I already had somethin on my head that would be perfect for that cheese. So I opted to buy one when I had to come back for walnuts.

This is how it turned out. A garlic butter drenched baguette, topped with a maple glazed bacon, cheddar with truffles, celery slices, egg yolk and nori.


We later found out that a few drops of Tabasco sauce lifted up most of the flavors.

Friday the 13th

A rare Friday we even made remarkable for the little man. Today he gets his first haircut. By the experts. No less.
Son, if you ever stumble on this blog and see this, I have these words for you… you lucky bastard! Be glad that me and your mama know how to DIY this and give you a decent cut you deserve. Army cut as your mommy mandated.

Don't even think about it

When you're hungry, your head starts to play with you. Tryin' to bombard you with whatever food you can think of and tells you to go eat it. That's what happened to us on a Thursday afternoon heading to pick up Anna. Tacos El Gordo was the place to go.

I've heard good reviews about the place. Highly recommended by co-workers. And since theres one a few blocks away from where I was, I might as well try it.

The moment I stepped foot inside the place, there's that feeling you're walking into an authentic Mexican joint. Place was the typical fast-food. A bit crowded and a bit of a wait for the food. They had separate lines for different types of tacos. Naturally, I headed to the one where there's a huge line. They also make their own tortillas which was great.

I told myself, "$2 for two Tacos? Not bad". Wrong! It was $2 for one taco! A mini taco, that is! The food tasted great, I can't deny that. But jeez, for that price I could have bought something that would have definitely filled us up. I ended up spending $38 in total of assorted tacos for the three of us.

That was the last time I am going to that place.

[Edit: the wife just read I spent $38. she said definitely it's tacos el ripoff!]

At the M

Last night was nice a breather for everyone who attended. A BYOB event for the staff of Sharp Chula mostly from the ICU.

We had the party over at Marjorie's house. There were tons of food and overflowing drinks. Nice time just mingling and chatting. Even though we see each other everyday, it was still a nice get away from all the work-related hullahbalu that happens.

I was again the designated photographer for the event, which I don't mind. I may not be on some of the pics (sometimes, not at all), but I get to see and photograph all the insane and crazy stuff that goes on. Plus I get the upper hand on what photos go online or which would rather be not seen at all.

Plus this party was long overdue. Since I got here, I would say I've only been to maybe two or three "legit" ICU parties in the past. No one tried to organize one until this. And for some reason it is always better to plan NOT to plan. Impromptu events are always well attended and guaranteed to materialize.

Jack O Lantern

This is our first time making one. We were at Bates Nut Farm a few days back, and pumpkin cost $6 each. Yup, for something that you'd carve, leave it at the lawn and thrown after Halloween. Uh-uh, I'm just there for the pictures then.

2 days after, we headed to Target to buy stuff. Low and behold, pumpkins were $1.50 each. I can deal with that.

 


Anna and Happy (for only 5 minutes) went on carving the thing. It turned out great.

Same day, I decided to make pork buns (siopao asado). That one turned out great too. Posted it on Facebook and for some reason, a lot of people did ask for the recipe. What's up with that? It was tedious to make, but readily available on any Asian grocery or Filipino fast food chains.

 


Maybe it's the fact that those sold on the supermarket are freakin' expensive like that $6 pumpkins huh? Plus it's better making your own, at least you know what's in it and not some unknown meat.

imovie

I had to send a video greeting for Lola's birthday and my editing tool was the iMovie for MAC. Me being me, did not bother to do the tutorial, but everyone does the same thing (right?).

Made a simple video greeting. But then had to do the trailer maker, which was fun. Here it is.


Too bad we had to scrap this and go for the more traditional video

about time

San Diego's decision to expand it's convention center has been the focus of every years SD Comic-Con. And in the last five years, it's organizers threatened to move to another city unless they expand it's annual site/venue.

Time and time again, the organizers had to device several strategic options to accommodate the ever growing demand for space. It would be disastrous in my part if they move since it would mean spending more on my end to go to Anaheim.

My prayers along with several hundreds or even thousands of San Diegan's prayers have been answered today. Here's a short clip of the proposed expansion plan


Here's the article:
San Diego's Convention Center

Itsy bitsy teeny weeny

 You know those days when you went to the mall just because. I really had no plans in buying anything besides bare essentials.

Nikon Coolpix S01
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 Why did I have to go to the electronics clearance section at Target. Maybe it's because that's what I always do? Anyways, there it was. With a red tag. On sale. Calling my name. And only one left.

Canon VS Nikon
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 Back to five months ago when me and Anna spotted this little thing. Yes, we already have a bunch of cameras. From SLR's, digicam, our iPhones and even vintage polaroids. But this was different, it's small, handy, can fit on your front jeans pocket and it's white. Gotta have a bunch of reasons of course.

Sony VS Nikon

 Back to present. I took it, put it in the cart and convinced Anna that this was a steal. I think back then it was $120, and now it's $69.99. Not even hitting the $70 mark. The more reason we gotta have it.

Sony vs Nikon

 Look how small this thing is.

Everything else vs Nikon

Just because?

When we bought our Mini. No one approached us immediately to ask if we need anything.

It was a totally different experience when we were at Toyota, Honda, Chrysler and Mazda dealers wherein the moment we pulled down to park, they were on our tails already.




With luxury cars, treatment with their clients is some sort of awkward but they also look at you more than a customer. I guess money can be a factor at that. If you don't have it, you're not supposed to be there.

But all these luxury come with perks. Whenever we drop by the dealer. We can have as much Starbucks coffee as we want. Complimentary car washes. And sometimes, if they had to trouble you for something, they even give you a full tank of gas.




To add these all up, they even sent us a goody bag of stuff. There's no turning back. Our eyes are looking towards that BMW series 1 Coupe.