Going Thai with Pad Thai

I noticed that every time I put a number to my blog title it always ended up in unsuccessful trail. So I'm omitting the digits and just move on with my kitchen escapades. This time I wandered at something Thai.

Pad Thai (Thai fried noodles)




Following instructions at a thai cookbook, it was a lot easier for me to share this recipe

prep time 25 mins. <--------- so true!
cooking time 10-15 mins<----- i made it around 10 mins

250g rice stick noodles
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic minced
100 g peeled prawn chopped into bits <---- i used the regular shrimps which are quite big and I cut it some into half to create curls
2 tbsp. fish sauce/nam pla <----- adjust according to taste as long as its equal proportion with lime juice
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tbsp. light brown sugar
2 med eggs beaten
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
150 g thinly sliced pork
1/2 bunch garlic chives chopped <---- I didnt put any
2 tsp. red chillies <---- i used chili paste/tobanjang instead
half medium onion julienne



Make sure you prep all ingredients first coz this is cooks really quick.

Boil water in a deep pan (this is for the noodles). On a separate hot frying pan with oil, saute onion, garlic and meat. Watch when the meat is about to cook, its the right time to boil your noodles so it will not overcook when its time to transfer to the frying pan. When the meat is cooked and you already placed your noodles in the boiling water, add the shrimp to the frying pan and wait till shrimp turns pink. 2-3 minutes probably had elapsed so drain your noodles and DIRECTLY put it in the frying pan, this will keep the noodles fresh and it will prevent from sticking. Put the liquid ingredients and adjust to taste. Put the sugar, bean sprouts and peanut last. Serve immediately. Best eaten hot.

I tried draining the noodles and letting it stand at the colander for 5 minutes before putting it with the rest of the ingredients, it greatly affects the quality of the noodles.

Kyaraben contenders

As posted below *turo sa baba* there were only two of us who braved the challenge *lol* and here were our entrees
Hers was Currypanman, Anpaman, Shokupanman kyaraben.


guess who won

what surprised me with this was that jap parents didnt just judged it according to how kawaii or complicated the product was.. they actually judged the contents and said something about "balance of protein and carbs". If this was an anime popularity contest, i wouldn't know who would've won.

this is Raqx hibernating.

I didn't realize its been a month since my last post. I think my body and mind is currently undergoing an unconscious hibernation. Our metal sliding doors and windows are now shut, effectively shielding us from the cold and simultaneously blocking the light. So even at a broad daylight which is already short as it is, my house appears to be at night time when it is best to be lazy...sleep..and.. eat. yah yah! I can paint the mountain of unburned calories in my head alright. So i tried.. not to be a bum. Last weekend was way beyond unsuccessful since I only got up from sofa to go to coin dryer. But weeks before that..i think I made a pretty good job. :)

here's why





I made KYARABEN for the first time! and it was my entree to our friendly competition with my work partner. Actually there were only two of us..for fun. But there were more judges than we thought. Kids' moms did the informal judging. Plus some more of our co-workers too. My work-partner really did a neat job I'll post her entry later.

I agreed, or we actually mutually challenged each other to take our bento-making into the next level- the Kyaraben. I've never done this but always wanted to. Without any idea what to make, I surf and surf for vector images until I found none (thats easy enough to interest me anyways). Luckily, the day before the "judgement day" I was on my way to Tokyo when I texted a friend and asked for directions going to a filipino store, thats when I noticed my totoro bling hanging tightly on my cellphone..and there flowed ideas.

I opted to make a "grinning totoro" with makkurokurosuke and chibi-totoro. I always wanted to go to ghibli museum and if you have no idea who totoro and other characters are... you can check this site

Save yourself from asking...it took me 2 hours to make all these. I cooked everything from scratch including the rice so I can have a good gauge of the prep time :)

Hisashiburi!

Long time no see!! whew! never knew I set this blog aside for a very long time! I really need to update my links..

Anyways, you probably know how tough it is to write when there is so much to write about! so let me write back to my darling blog with a tickle.

The joys and pains of freelance english tutoring in Japan. The student is instructed to listen to a song and write down the lyrics.

The student's rendition of Everything I Own by Bread



This post does not mean to offend or whatsoever. :P

When is busy really "busy"?

After about six hours of sleep I will wake up to prepare our lunchboxes and start getting ready for work. I will probably check mails or websites or weather or news if I could squeeze it. Then it will be ten hours in the workplace, driving to and from included. Work includes mostly my right brain plus some cardio from running, walking, hopping, skipping…all the joys of preschool! But hey, don’t kid me, I barely have time to eat my lunch at work. Working with children surely isn’t a walk in the park. And then back at home I have to prepare my lesson for an hour of private tutorials, let’s say it takes about two, travel time included. After which I will pick hubby from his lab and we will either catch dinner out or I will cook in, the latter collecting the most frequent vote. On board our sanctuary a few episodes of downloaded TV series will glue the munching of food and day stories in between bites. Come weekends, it will be a whole lot of household chores, kitchen experiments that mostly include a lot of baking, cyber chat with friends, grocery, gizmos scouting, combing stores in different streets, long drives, gas refill… oh the works! I never usually finish one whole week without someone commenting on how I managed to do this and that.

Yet still, yesterday as I was checking the boxes right next to my to-do-list, it felt like I’ve done nothing. So I drove to the biggest mall here in Tsukuba and picked up cardstocks and button fasteners and it didn’t take me a long time to compute the ridiculously priced stuff so I stepped out, and head straight to my favorite 100yen shop. There I bought more stickers, ribbons, blings, cutting boards, pens, craft scissors, origami paper etcetera… Now I have all these cluttered in my living room.


Hubby told me that I should have bought a craft drawer to fit in all these. Oh well.. I do hope scrapbooking will keep me “busy”.

So again, here comes the question...when are we truly busy?

better late than never..

Because its autumn and everybody who’s into this season seem to upload some one or two pictures then I’ll join in the bandwagon and post one or two myself (of course more on my flicker)


And because autumn falls on October and I haven’t uploaded any blog entry for a month I obliged myself to fill this space with my progress, frustrations, acquisitions, things I have done and more things I should do..

I initially vowed to study religiously and take an exam by spring 2008. The indicators I set however were blinking in red that I was so preoccupied (read: lazy) the entire month and I have decided to move taking the exam to fall of next year instead.

My Nihonggo lesson started October 2 and as far as speaking I’m okay. But I sucked big time at reading and much more at writing! My assignments are also piled up since I already missed one session because I have to attend a teachers meeting at Tokyo.

The beginning of October was also the beginning of more work since I landed as an art class instructor…a stint which towards the end of the month I gratefully handed down to the new caucasian teacher. It will still be my brainchild though. I will still design all crafts and art activities and the new guy has to do the demonstration. My plate is already full to accommodate another class. My hands have been numb from decorating our building that happened to be a one woman show. No complains coz I somehow enjoy doing and conceptualizing stuff. What better occasion can land on October calendar but the Halloween. So my class made these.. I’d probably blog how we did all these sometime. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of kids in action and some more of their projects. And oh! Our Halloween party at Planet Hollywood was a blast! I came as Snow white’s evil step mom.


Plus plus plus my hubby finally said yes to buy me an SLR! My precious Canon EOS 400D kiss so far has been my favorite frustration. Yeah its true. I’m totally learning on my own and nobody said its gonna be easy. I made very little progress and I don’t have the luxury of time to practice. Sadness! Some of the shots are already uploaded in my flickr.

To this point I have a pile of clothes to fold and assignments to furnish and more on my list that needed a check on the box next to it. I better get going. Belated HALLOWEEN!

Romar's Japanese television debut

From "maglalatik boys" to "pokpok boys" Romar (my brat err husband) leaped to a more mature role of "tinikling" main man in this video (the one in red puruntong or shortpants). It was bared to Japanese public yesterday October 2, 2007 on (ehem) a PRIMETIME! (6:30pm) I know I am basically cutting our era of romanticism by uploading this... but I cant help it! :P details will follow IF I can juice him to spare me some. but for now this will do..

ps. im encountering errors in uploading this to youtube so our multiply is my second best option.

Day 1: Weaning Time

The night before I fly to Japan I typed some of my thoughts and then emailed it to myself. Here is an excerpt …

CHANGE
A LOT has happened. And a LOT will happen still. I can’t stop things from happening. Like this is all a strong flow of current pulling every drift wood from the lost forest, I let it conquer my own.

I am like the seed that was nurtured and challenged to become a sturdy canopy. Proudly I stood to bask with the glares of the sun yet shelters what’s behind- the understory of the thick damp, sometimes muddy yet calming forest floor. The stability and mystical appeal of the scenery is good enough to capture a lens eye and be immortalized in a postal card—like it will never change its ways. Never did I imagine how this picture perfect canopy has volunteered itself to be uprooted to serve a better purpose…

Six months after, I found myself driving on the highway without a lump on my throat, gas my own car, go places without my husband, pick up and drop off friends at wee hours in the morning, spend a day at the park, watch movie with Herb, do the groceries and check the wholesale shops, short to say, do stuff without my husband looking after me. And not one of these moments passed me without getting secretly or deliberately thrilled that I was able to do it on my own.

I am weaned. I can somehow say that I overcome weaning stress.

This morning I drove almost 50 kilometers to the airport and managed to get back in Tsukuba in one piece, fulfill my 3 hour work load, had a superb lunch with Herb, march on the mall, pick few treats from grocery and truly enjoy myself. I should be happier than I am now. But when I got back home and turn my key and open our door, suddenly I can see so much space. Though I have a mental note of things that I should accomplish while my hubby is in France, I know I can only be half occupied.

Funny how a one tarot card session with Herb got me to wrap up what I used to do and how different I am now. Before, I thrive under pressure, I depend on caffeine and nicotine, I give solutions to problems, I think about other people, I study, I influence, I learn, I earn and I was good. But it was never enough to satisfy me. Now, I induce pressure, tone down on caffeine, give up nicotine, suggest options to solve problems, think about myself and my family, I urge myself to study, I make friends, I earn and try to make good and I feel gratified. Herb told me to coast along with changes. Wait and see what’ll happen next. I think I have no choice but to leave it at that, especially at this time when I have to wake up 18 mornings without my husband. I’ll get by…one day at a time.

So I decided to upload pics during my pinas workdays plus my current pics. Don’t mind me, the background spells the difference. Cut off from “before” pics are my lucky strike, and coffee cup.

getting Japanized: Ikebana

Finally! After weeks of getting nicked from the cyberworld, our modem started flashing its red and green lights once again. Been offline for three weeks I think but it felt like 3 decades! This, my friend was only one of the aftermaths of moving from one house to another. Oh yes! We are finally settled in our new abode. Not quite though coz our bedroom (read: b-e-d-r-o-o-m! we have one now, unlike the studio type where my hubby and I lived for 4 months) is still jammed with partly opened boxes, trashed canisters, soiled mattresses etcetera etcetera..but it is still a bedroom! Its really a relief to have one.

Now I only have to post what I should have bloged decades ago-- my own ikebana experiment.






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“Ikebana” or the Japanese art of flower arrangement translates to embody heaven, earth and man through the linear and coordinated assembly of all the materials being used. In the olden days ikebana are mainly taught to women who are about to get married. Now however, it is practiced at the convenience of anyone. Ahem! Fortunately for me, a friend received sayonara bouquets from his colleagues. Needless to say, I bargained to salvage his wilting petaled glories (because of lack of water supply). Though I think my creation were more western than local (im Japan based at the moment), my inspiration all stemmed from ikebana books I borrowed from Tsukuba public library. I figured that since I am here, I might as well learn its culture, afterall its omoshiroi! (interesting)