A Taste Test*

How delicious is Tarie? Mmm, very delicious. How delicious are you?

1. What was the last thing you ate?
Oh this is sad. Toasted pandesal with strawberry jam. It was good, but I wish “the last thing I ate” was something more exciting.

2. Licorice...black or red?
Red… Black licorice tastes…nasty.

3. Red...Twizzlers or Red Vines?
Twizzlers! Red Vines taste like…licorice. Haha.

4. Your idea of the perfect dinner out is:
Any dinner with someone who loves food as much as I do. And this dinner must be accompanied by really good conversation.

5. You picked the perfect dinner. Now how are we getting there?
Taxi?

6. How much do you tip?
If the service was really good, 10% - even after paying the 10% service charge included in the bill. With or without a service fee in the bill, if the service was really bad = no tip. With or without a service fee in the bill, if the service was ok = 20 pesos or so.

7. How often are we eating out?
For every single meal. *sigh* I don’t cook. (This is different from not knowing how to!)

8. List three things in your refrigerator right now.
Jars of guava jelly from General Santos City (made by relatives :) ). One frozen tuna sausage (should be thrown away by now). Black olives (should be thrown away by now).

9. What are you cooking for dinner?
*SIGH*

10. Breakfast...savory or sweet, and give an example, in graphic detail, because I’m hungry.
I haven’t had breakfast in more than a month. :( *cries* I would like: a Belgian waffle with lots of butter and maple syrup, fresh strawberries and blueberries, bacon, scrambled eggs, and freshly brewed coffee. Mmmmmm.

11. Do you drink the milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl?
Of course! You don’t?!

12. What food has made you cry? And if food has never made you cry, let me take you to Table8 for a grilled cheese sandwich and some deep-fried chorizo-stuffed olives.
Food has never made me cry. :( Please take me to Table8!

If you read this please answer at least one of the questions in the comments section! Don't leave me blogging all alone. :)


*This taste test was brought to me by Sarah of The Delicious Life, where she serves opinions like sushi - always raw. I love how Sarah keeps it real. :)

Play with your food before eating it.

Here are some pictures of Joseph, Joselyn, and Rey in General Santos City. I've posted these pictures so that everyone can see part of our clan's awesome farms! And I've posted these pictures in the hopes of making my friend Natalie smile (she loves chickens). :)

I should be concentrating on re-reading A.S. Byatt's Possession for class, but I've been spending more time reading Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Book I) for leisure. *giggle* The movie adaptation of The Golden Compass is coming out this December. I visited the official website of the movie and found out what my soul would be like outside my body...

I must have some kind of sickness. Why can't I just walk past the bookseller? Or why can't I just enjoy browsing, then go home empty handed? Why do I always have to buy a new book, even though I already have many books to read for class and for leisure. I can never have enough books. I want so many books. Do any of you have this sickness too?

What I Learned From Freedom Writers

I finally watched Freedom Writers (based on the true story). My friend Nice lent me her dvd. The movie reminded me of several important things. Actually, how could I have forgotten?

1. Teaching is not "just a job."

2. You have to really care about your students to be a good teacher.

3. A good teacher and/or a good class does make a difference in the lives of young people.

4. The "problem students," the ones who give us the most trouble, are the students who need us the most.

5. Reading/literature can touch and change lives.

6. Journaling is therapeutic (and improves communication skills).


Here it is... After seven months away from students, I am starting to miss teaching.

There was a duck in the house last night! A duck!!!

I am happiest when

... I am with my brothers and cousins. JP, Brian, and I were really happy when we were with Joseph, Joselyn, and Rey. We had so much fun with them (and we hope they had fun with us too) that whenever we weren't with them (they visited other relatives and places too of course) we were so bored.

These pictures are from a Friday night together in Eastwood City (a mixed-use development area in Quezon City - also a "party area"). Brian wasn't with us. He was on a date. *rolls eyes* (This is my protective, possessive, pouty older sister side coming out.)

But when we got home Brian soon joined us and we all stayed up late talking so it was all good. :)

Our cousin Kate lives in Bahrain and works as a flight stewardess (I forgot the name of the airline). She was finally assigned to a flight to Manila so she was here Sunday and Monday. JP, Brian, and I spent Sunday afternoon and night with her and her family (her parents flew in from General Santos City just to see her!). So I was at my happiest again. :) We stuffed ourselves with doughnuts and coffee in Krispy Kreme (we were in SM Megamall). Literally five minutes after our Krispy Kreme binge we had dinner at Dad's (the buffet restaurant). We all ate (Japanese food, Spanish food, Filipino food, American food) until it was hard to breathe, then we rolled ourselves home. We're looking forward to when Kate visits again in October. :) We all miss her so much!

Here we are. :) I promised more pictures and I keep my promises. :P Where were we?

Ah yes, my family had yummy seafood without me. But that's ok. I'm really happy they had a great time.

They went to a place called Dampa. It must be near Manila Bay. You choose the seafood in the market and they cook it up for you!

Oysters! :D That's Rey in the checkered shirt and Joselyn in the blue shirt, by the way.

Here's the gang eating what they picked from the market. This is currently my desktop background at work. Looking at this makes me happy. Brothers, cousins, and delicious food all in one picture!

Do you like seafood?

My cousin Joseph sent the pictures he took here in the Philippines.

Joseph, (and my other cousins) Joselyn, Rey, Kuya Bon, and my brothers JP and Brian went to a "wet market" to buy amazing seafood and have it cooked.

I wasn't with them. :( I was at work.

They said the seafood was delicious. I know they all had fun.

Can you believe the size of that thing?! ...There are more pictures to come!

Aaahhh. :)

I had a great Saturday. :) It was a struggle for me to get up at 9:30 on a Saturday morning. I usually get up around noon on Saturdays LOL. But it was worth it. I had to meet my friend April 10:30 a.m. at the mall (SM North). Traffic was bad because there was a sale - lots of people wanted to take advantage of those bargains! So I was late meeting April. I had a quick breakfast from Bread Talk: a chicken teriyaki bun (the bun was good, the chicken teriyaki part so-so). Then April and I headed to the gym (Fitness First). Yes, you read right. Lazy bum Tarie actually went to the gym on Saturday LOL. But only because I was a (free) guest of April's (she's a member). I thoroughly enjoyed using the Cinefit room of Fitness First. It's like a small theater, only instead of seats there are treadmills and stationary bikes. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was on the big screen, so one hour of brisk walking on the treadmill did not bore me the way work outs usually do. :D Then I spent a heavenly 10 minutes in the sauna before taking a refreshing shower. I felt so happy while getting dressed afterwards. :)

We had lunch in Kimono Ken. Oyakudon (a bowl of Japanese rice topped with chicken, egg, and sweet sauce) for April and ebi tempura udon (prawn and vegetable tempura on fat noodles with a sweet soy-based soup) for me. Then it was off to get facials! I won several gift certificates for facials (from Aesthetic White Beauty Center) in a raffle. Yay! :) I shared one of the gift certificates with April and we both got wonderful facials on Saturday. I have enough gift certificates left to get a facial every month for several months. Yay! :)

After facials we continued pampering ourselves by getting green tea milkshakes from Bubble Tea (a "Tokyo milk tea place"). Our milk shakes had big and small yummy tapioca pearls so we drank through fat straws. We went our separate ways after that. Before going home I went grocery shopping for the pasta I was planning to cook on Sunday. Life is good. :) Tell me how your weekends went!

P.S. I am still amazed and almost speechless about the scope and depth of the recently concluded Harry Potter series. There are so many important themes to analyze, so many things to debate. There are issues to discuss. There is the fact that if we read the series all over again in light of how it ended, we will see the patterns, threads, connections, and clues that were there from the beginning. The entire series is one great narrative where every detail matters and plays an important part in the story. Here is my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows quote for the day:

"The thing is, it helps when people stand up to them, it gives everyone hope. I used to notice that when you did it, Harry."

"Bless the children, give them triumph now."

Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers (quoted in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I tried to take my sweet time (I'm sad about the series coming to an end), but I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows early this morning. I don't know how to articulate how I feel. I liked it. I loved it. It's all I've been thinking about for the past two weeks. It's all I'll be thinking about for two more weeks (at the very least). I'm obsessed. I'm a Harry Potter fanatic. HP7 is one of my favorite books in the series (the others being books 3 and 1). It was exciting, a real page turner (like all the other Harry Potter books, except for the second one - the one I like the least). I love how everything came full circle. I love how everything in the series fits. I think JK Rowling is a genius when it comes to plot. And it's amazing how HP7 is a satisfying end to the series and how it gives readers wonderful closure. I feel speechless, really.

Some spoilers caught up with me before I finished the book :( :( :( , but thank God most of the plot twists remained revelations to me :) . What do I do now that it's over? :( I can't believe this is really goodbye. :( I can't wait to watch the sixth and seventh Harry Potter movies. I hope JK Rowling writes more books. I think next I will read the His Dark Materials fantasy series in time for the movie coming out Christmas season...

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows