Rose Apple Spinach Salad

Beauty deprived of its proper foils and adjuncts ceases to be enjoyed as beauty, just as light deprived of all shadows ceases to be enjoyed as light.

John Ruskin

A rose isn't a rose isn't a rose...at least when it's a rose apple anyway...  

Asian Style Barley Pilaf

Nothing makes a woman realize the consequences of the gluttony she committed during the recent festivities like a pair of tight-fitting jeans.  You know, those pair of jeans with zippers that glided smoothly when you zipped them up or down prior to December of the previous year.  Then comes January and all of sudden, that zipper on those same pair of jeans experiences a bumpy ride as it travels up and down.  The zipper simply does not glide as smoothly as it  did just a few months ago.  As much as  I  she would like to think that she's experiencing a wardrobe malfunction (it's Superbowl season, I'm allowed to borrow that term) or think it's simply because of defective zippers, that bumpy ride is a storage of leftover gluttony in the form of fat.

Meringue-Making On A Manic Monday: Silvanas

BlogCritics: my first article submission, Confessions Of A Chocolate Chaser, has been chosen as Editors' Picks.  You can read it here if you're interested.

I just discovered my own personal Bible, The Idiot's Guide To Managing Your Time.   To date, it has truly been a revelation in that I was able to write and submit my long overdue first article for Blog Critics, complete another article for a client after my regular office hours and managed to bake a batch of silvanas and meet up with a friend for  a cup of coffee.  All this accomplished on a manic Manila Monday!

New Year's Eve 2010

Unlike in the West, New Year's Eve is a family affair here in the Philippines.  It really is just a continuation of Christmas Eve with a few differences.   Being a "holiday orphan," my friend invited me to spend Christmas Eve with her family, which was very generous of her to do so.  Now imagine my surprise when her parents invited me again to spend New Year's Eve with them!   A repeat invitation in a short space of a week is a good sign that I didn't repulse my hosts during Christmas Eve. 

Local Christmas Traditions

With the over-the-top, paranoid-like security measures that every high-traffic US airports employ, I have decided to stay put for the holidays instead of going home as I usually do.  After working for around fourteen hours almost everyday for the past six months, I simply do not have the energy to queue for two to three hours and subject  myself  to have my luggage scanned and turned upside down after hours of meticulous packing in the hopes of finding any explosive devices.

Loomi Luvin'

      My  palm reader said I'm going to hold
 something old and withered in the palm of my hand. 
Perhaps this was what she meant?!

Unless you are familiar with Persian and khaleeji cuisines, most likely, you have never seen nor heard of lumi (pronounced as "loomi").   They are preserved limes boiled in salt water and dried out in the sun until they become brittle and  reach that tan or black color.  Sometimes, they're called "black limes" or "black lemons," which is a misnomer.  

Papaya Fried Rice

With Christmas just a little over  two weeks away, I am starting to feel the pressure to finish everything work-related before the break.  It doesn't help either when you hear "Only 'X' days till Christmas!" on TV every night.  As soon as September arrives, the entire Christian population in this country start the count down.