French (Old) Onions Soup ver 0.01

Simula ngayon, lagyan ko naman ng backstory kung bakit ito ang niluto ko...

Isang araw, nagutom ako dahil sa sobrang kakafacebook.

Tumingin ako sa ref at dahil sa nakita kong laman (or lack of thereof), naalala kong di pa pala ako nakapag-grocery.

Let see what we have here inside the ref's vegetable drawer; six old onions, two old sweet potatoes, a shriveled ginger. I have other things inside the ref of course, but for this story's sake , there is nothing else in there.

Google, what can I make with onions, sweet potatoes and a ginger?

"Sweet potato and ginger soup." google immediately replied.

Thank you google, and so french onion soup it is.

End backstory.

Ingredients

4 red onions (out of the 6, 2 looked a bit dehydrated so they had to be taken cared of)
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp McCormick minced garlic
1 Knorr beef broth cube
1 tbsp muscovado sugar

Procedure

1. Chop the onions. The internet recommends cutting the onions lengthwise from root to stem but I read this too late. I cut the onions in rings.

2. Into the cast iron pan, melt the butter over medium heat.

3. Cast the onions into the flames! I mean, over the melted butter inside the pan.

4. Stir them onions around for 25mins. I had to lower the heat when some of the onions looked burnt.

5. Add the muscovado. Stir some more, 5min-ish. (The internet recipe said white sugar but this is what I have right now. Muscovado sticks to the skillet so I had to scrape it off every now and then. The sugar supposedly helps the caramelization of the onions.)

6. Add the garlic. (Again, the internet recipe called for fresh chopped garlic but again this is what I get for not grocery-ing.)

7. Chop the broth cube and then put into the pan. (I could have used my rice cooker to prepare the broth but I have rice in it)

8. Add 4 cups water.

9. Mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.

10. Serve with roasted chicken. (Important step, makes the onion soup tastes so good!)

Comments

Tastes onion-ishly sweet.
I brought leftovers to work and people said it tasted good. Well, they are good friends so they had to say it tasted good or else fb-unfriending will commence (yes, I'm that sensitive and shallow).

For next time

Use fresh garlic. Less sugar perhaps?
Prepare the broth separately.

Personal Rating: ★★★ 
Yup, I have a personal star system now.


★             - not fit for human consumption
★★          - ang importante ay may nakukuha kang nutrition
★★★       - ok na sana kaso parang may kulang
★★★★    - pwede nang for regular rotation sa meal plan
★★★★★ - i should sell this

Slow cooked pulled pork v1.01

Input Parameters

1.3 kg Pork pigue
2 packs 50g Mama Sita's Barbecue Marinade Mix
278.37ml Coke
3 tbsp catsup
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lea&perrins worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp sriracha sauce


Algorithm

1) Put pork in slow cooker. Use half pack marinade on the pork.
2) Massage the marinade into the pork. Leave for 1 hour.
3) Pour the coke in.
4) Slow cook on low. 10ish hours.
5) Drain liquid into bowl, shred the pork; using two forks would be ideal.
6) Mix the rest of the ingredients into a pot, add 5 ladleful of the liquid
7) Put pot over slow fire, stir.
8) Put shredded meat back into the slow cooker, pour the sauce over. Mix.
9) Additional 1hr on high

Output

Matabang, parang may kulang.
Di barbecue ang lasa, tastes more like asado.
Good as a sandwich filling.
Tastes good when eaten with a salad-ish side.
Salad of apple, carrot, cucumber, onion.

Comment

Try to use a liquid based sauce or maybe use more?

Lotto Fever

Last monday was the day the my life almost changed.

It's the day I almost won the 230M lotto draw! I was just like ... uhm... you know... five numbers off.

A little bit of reality rewind might be in order.

It was almost years ago since I bet on lotto. Last monday was more of an impulse. I was my way home and as I pass by the usually busy lotto outlet, the outlet was unusually unbusy and vacant even with a modest streamer saying "239M Draw Tonight."

Coincidentally, at that exact moment, I got my left hand holding on to my P140 change from the banana stand. The exact amount needed for the 7 number bet. (You pay P140 for 7 numbers of your choice and if the lotto draw hits any 6 of them, you still win the jackpot)

It may sound stupid right now, and it was back then, but I was thinking, is this the cosmos' way of saying, that this is it Ron, your time to win.

Pffft, probably not. But whatever, let's give this luck-one-in-a-billion-odds thing another try.

I went the sentimental route of choosing my numbers. (The other route would be the statistical way of choosing the 6 numbers that least came up during the previous draws.) The other route needs time and effort to compute, so sentimental route it is. Numbers that are important to me are, birth date, 12 and 1, check. Significant other's birth date, 11 and 25, check. Age I got circumcised, 21 ehrm.. I mean 7, check. Century I was born, 1900 = 19, check. Age right now, 24, check.

Well, you know how it ended. (See 2nd paragraph if you already forgot)

But, chance, there is still. None won and another draw is up tonight.

I already bought tickets in the am. This time I went the f*ck-this-i'll-let-the-system-choose-random-numbers-for-me route. Six squiggly lines later, 5 tickets, 6 random numbers each.

Well, this got me thinking, how could I increase my chances of winning the Lotto? After much sleeping, internetting and watching tv, I came up with this list.

Five ways to win the Lotto

1.)  Get a statistics major friend compute the 6 least occurring number based on the previous lotto draws. Chances say that all the 49 lotto numbers should equally be drawn in time. (I don't really know if this is statistically sound but hey, no need for factual information on this blog)

2.) Pray to your god. Let your god know that you deserve this since you've been treated unfairly almost all your life. Say what you'll do in case you win. (In my case, theoretically, I would be willing to split the pot 200-30, 200 for me, 39 for you. I like round numbers.)
       2.1) Pray to all your gods. For polytheists, pray to all of them. Customize your plea to fit their moods. You don't pray for world peace to the war god do you?
       2.2) For monotheists, secretly get another monotheist god or two. How you keep this secret from an omniscient god is beyond me, but if you pull this off, let me know. (Remember the numerous they are, the numerous powers that be, the more chances of winning)

3.) Draft your resignation letter, ready to click send. You got to let the cosmos know your f*cking serious about this.

4.) ???!?
    4.1) This probably the most important step, missing this step would be catastrophic to your chances of winning. Until somebody figures this out, sigh, we can go on hoping.

5.) Buy a ticket.

P.S.

I just got on twitter as blognironald, (yeah, I'm such a late adopter). If you're on it, let me know and if I stalkerishly like you so much, I'd probably follow you!

-update- 2/30 1143h

No one one the jackpot: 01 - 22 - 35 - 36 - 41 - 42

the good: i still have a chance to win over 300M on sunday
the bad: i didn't win 288M last night
the ugly: i have already planned out what to do w/ 288M up 'til the last centavo. Sigh, i now have to redo it for 300M.

i should have still gone the sentimental route of choosing the numbers the 2nd time around. the winning numbers have very significant meaning in my life:
  1 - my birth day
  22 - pairs of socks i own
  35 - number of days in the month of december + 4
  36 - 6 times 6, 36. 6 times 6, 36 (there's even a song for this number!!)
  41 - my target life expectancy divided by 2
  42 - my target life expectancy divided by 2, then add 1

dammit!

Swimming and gymming

I got myself two new hobbies. Swimming, the act of moving from point A to point B in a medium in a state of liquidity and whose density is usually around 1 g/ml (more commonly known as water to the uninformed), and Gymming, the act of going to the gym. Hence the title of this entry.

My previous hobby was soccering but I had been soccering for almost a decade (my gadz, how time flies) and aside from thinking that it's high time to get a new sport activity, I've got this slight left foot pain/injury that's keeping me from effectively kick balls of any kind (soccer balls, biological balls, you name the ball, I can't kick it).

Why swim and gym? Why not sing and dance? Or skate and bake?

Well, swim and gym sounds nice (hey they rhyme!), and singing and dancing is really not my thing. My earliest attempts at singing and dancing was a traumatic experience. I vaguely remember people panic and scream "call for help! this kid's having an epileptic seizure!" Having a spoon shoved in your mouth (the rational being to keep you from biting your tongue off) and various strangers groping your young, fresh and innocent body in an attempt to "hold" and "keep" you still are not things you want to happen when you try to sing/dance. So no to the sing and dance combo. While skate and bake almost sounds nice (hey they almost rhyme!), the mental imagery of baking pastry while in skates doesn't strike me as cool or even sane. Swimming and gymming it is then.

The kicker here is that there's this gym with an indoor pool 297 steps away from the office (you can count the steps yourself to verify!). And the kicker to the kicker would be mike felps winning 8 golds in the last olympics and it inspired the dolphin in me to get out there and swim.

I've been swimming quite regularly for two months now. Before this regularity, the only swimming stroke I knew was freestyle (aka front crawl) and breast and back stroking.

The freestyle I learned in just a few years ago in a Red Cross sponsored summer clinic. As the only adult in this swimming class, my classmates being 5 to 7 year old brats, you can imagine the pressure to perform (must float and move forward, must not let 5 year old kid do this better).

The breaststroke and backstroke I deduced from the words used. My version of breaststroke goes like this: Stand on the pool's edge, swimming cap and goggles on. Look down at the water's surface in a 45 degree angle. Place right hand on top part of right breast ..err.. chest (hopefully yours) just above the right nipple. Do the same for the left side. You probably know how this is going to end but if you don't, then move your hands in a circular motion around the nipple. Tadaa! Breast stroke at it's primitivest. You can do the same for the backstroke. You may not have nipples on your back to guide you (well, you shouldn't really), just stroke your back in a circular motion the way you find most comfortable.

During the regularity of swimming, I've been practicing my freestyle, and learning the breaststroking and butterflying the way they should be done. How can I not learn when I've got the two best teachers in the internetz, google and youtube. Google to provide the information, and youtube to show how it's done.

To date, I still have no idea if I'm doing things right. What I know is that I'm able to move from from point A to point B in a medium in a state of liquidity and whose density is usually around 1 g/ml (more commonly known as water to the recently informed but forgetful) in strokes called freestyle, boobstroke and butterfly. I'm not even sure if I'm doing it the way youtube showed me how. But it does feel I'm doing it right. Oh well, until someone tells me otherwise I'll just listen to the dolphin in me.

Mild mannered ex-programmer

[8-30-2008]
 
My resume shows that it's been a while since I've been a legally employed programmer. (While it sounds so crazy exciting rebellious cool to be tagged as an illegally employed programmer, images of late night hacking fueled by caffeine, nicotine and porn fills your mind but in reality, being an illegally employed programmer means that even with your meager salary, your employer has not been paying taxes, social security benefits in your behalf. Godamn that's illegal!)
 
A year and five months. 
 
Not that I never thought I'd miss programming. I still do every day programming stuff. Just a few hours ago, I programmed my alarm clock to 'alarm' at 7:00 am US eastern daylight savings time to remind me of my 'job' at 9:00 am US eastern daylight savings time. Just a few minutes ago, I programmed my wrist watch to 'wrist' at 8:00 am EDT to remind me that a bath has to be made (Only in this page does 'alarm' == 'wrist'). And just sometime ago I programmed the radio to receive free music at a specific frequency (also called turning the radio on and listening to a certain radio station).
 
Now anyone who read the last paragraph could say, hey I could do that. That makes me a programmer too!
 
No shit. Maybe you are, but I don't care. What I missed was software programming. Software, may sound almost the same with tupperware and somewhere but take my word, there's a whole world of difference.
 
For a year and month now, I've been a legally employed technical support professional, also more popularly known as a call cenner agent (Note the silent 't' in center). I can't tell you the specific cenner I work for but I could let you know in hard to decipher word puzzle. The company cenner name starts and ends with 's', and has 'yke' between them. Oh they have a website at www.sykes.com. For those high IQ readers who solved the puzzle after intense calculation, keep it to yourselves ok?
 
This was suppose to be a short stint, but a year and month and two promotions later, here I am still.
 
Well a few good things happened. I use to envy those annoyingly pretty call cenner guys and girls with their enviously annoying american accent and seemingly good verbal grasp of english. Don't you just hate those call cenner people with their fit, sexy frames with fashionable clothes, cigarettes on the right hand, expensive foreign iced coffee on the left, yap away at volume that anyone within 2 meters away would hear them say and use fake american accented words when a normal conversational tagalog/bisaya word would do.
 
Now I'm part of that demographic, I still hate and get annoyed when I see/hear those people. The good thing I was talking about earlier is that I now know that my verbal english skills have improved. I may still be unfit (unfit leaning towards malnutrition not obesity ever since forever) and unfashionable (a wedding you say? could I go wearing my spartan flipflops?), but damn it, english, me speak better.
 
It's always been an area of improvement for me. While I've always been satisfied on how I write in english, speaking the language is another story. I've been to the isteyts for a short vacation twice during my software programmer days and for some reason my version (I'll call this version 1.0) of english back then would only warrant blank stares and/or puzzled looks from native speakers.
 
It's the accent and pronunciation and choice of the words. With english version 1.0 apple would sound like 'apol' instead of 'epol,' pizza would be said like 'picha' instead of 'peetza.' And the choice of words, man, I had a tendency to speak the way I write right now. Which to me would sound weird, saying words that are only meant to written down. (I racked my brains for examples but I couldn't think of any for now. I guess once verbal english version 1.0 was replaced with english version 2.1, there's no turning back)
 
And so presenting version 2.1! Who wouldn't improve after regularly speaking to americans every working day for a year?!?
 
It's not that I now sound like a native speaker, but I could say with certainty that the large area of improvement was decreased by two square meters. Though, I've noticed improvement a few weeks into the program. QAs who monitored my calls would ask, "Your grasp of english is pretty good, were you working in call cenner before?" To which I would raise my chin a bit, hands on waist, smugly smile then say "Oh, you know, this is actually my first call cenner job" and then this would continue in my head, "Did you only ask that question since I sound like I've been speaking english my whole life? Oh you flatterer. *blushes* (For some reason, I blush quite a lot in my mind)."
 

I'm set to vacation in the estates again late this year. Let see if this self-proclaimed improvement's not all in my mind. Well if ever it's all in my mind, I could always look forward to improving to english version 3.4 (It goes all the way to Version 99.0 by the way).