On a long /br

Hello world.

I've been out for quite sometime. Summer has officially started and we're commemorating Holy Week in the Philippines. Yay, no school.
Will update this page in the next few days.

Cheers! <3
Catch you soon

A Table for One

For six long years, I have been away from my family to work in a nearby place. Living alone taught me a lot of things: laundry, taking care of my stuff, washing dishes and several others that I must do or else I'd be living in a place called Garbage Home.

Among all the domesticating works I do, there's one thing that I love so much: COOKING.

I can say that I have unlocked the secrets in good cooking, and I learned that there's one more fun thing I discovered... mastering the art of cooking for one.

Usual menus include Filipino dishes like Sinigang for one, Adobo for one, Caldereta for one, Kare-Kare for one and many more other dishes. I also do any dish that I like as long as it doesn't require baking.

Well, if you live alone, and you have no one to share the meals with, you might as well cook the same way that I do. It needs skills though. I do not want to make it sound complicated, but I'm telling you, its not that easy.

Dinner from the other night. Pan grilled stuffed squid in Oyster sauce
served with singkamas (white turnip) on the side, for one. Yes sir, no rice.

So, what's the hard part about cooking for one? Well, to start with, you need to get yourself a big fridge. What's with the big fridge? Its where you keep the remaining ingredients when you cook for one. You can't buy a piece of fish, a chop or several slices of meat because things you see in the market or in the grocery are sold by kilos. Lucky if you can have them by half-kilos, or you have other plans using the same ingredient. Otherwise, you'll have to keep them in the cold storage.

Second, selecting dry ingredients that comes in small packages is a pain in the arse problem too. It's the same as buying stuff that needs the cold storage. You can't leave a small box of flour open for a long period of time, nor use an entire can of preserved fruit for a dish for one.

Finally, if at first you won't succeed... You'll have your official 'Adobo day' or whatever dish you just made. You'll think you cooked enough for one, but will end eating a dish for three. Save them, you can always have them later :P

Michiko-chan's Sparkly Bedazzlement

Hi,
My name is Michiko. I am the second Takara doll Je-Anne owns. I hope you'll like my photos. xoxo

P.S.
More to come!

Hitomi-chan's Sweet Spring

What are Takara dolls?

Here's what I've found on wikipedia. [See full article here]

Jenny (ジェニー Jenī?) is a 10½ inch fashion doll produced by Japanese toy company now known as Takara Tomy since 1982. The doll was known as Takara Barbie, and in 1986 the doll was renamed "Jenny" after Takara ended their licensing agreement with Mattel.[1] Takara Barbie differs from a western Barbie. Takara Barbie was altered to better appeal to Japanese preferences, and is shorter, her eyes are larger and rounder, the mouth is closed, and the doll's figure is more natural than the Western Barbie's exaggerated figure. Like her Western counterpart, Jenny wears a large variety of outfits, which often include street fashion, school uniforms, kimonos,[2] and other uniquely Japanese costumes, such as "Bullet-Train Stewardess Jenny".[3] Today the Jenny doll is a sentimental favorite doll in Japan, but she is much less popular than Licca-chan, Mattel's Barbie or MGA Entertainment's Bratz dolls.

 Meet Hitomi-chan, on her Spring day look (this is her first photo set after a few hours of getting out of the storage, that's why she still doesn't have nice clothes yet)

P.S.
I am not that good in taking pictures. I only use camera phone and a bridge camera. Hopefully, I would be able to produce more high quality photos <3

Dolls, Plushies, and CandySushi

A doll is a part of every girl's life. I know no girl who doesn't like (or have liked) dolls when they're little. Sometimes, girl outgrow their dolls and some don't. I think I am one of them who did not totally outgrow them. I love them but not as much as I love the things that I get from toy claw games.

But one event changed everything (I think). I was cleaning my stored stuff on a weekend and found two Takara dolls. They're a bit dusty... and decided to take them out of the storage box to give them a new life, now with the grown-up me. I don't remember much about whoever gave me this, but at the back of my mind, there's a need for me to make them a part of me again... the grown up me, that is.

Moreover, the SO gave me a somewhat complete copies of Sailor Moon Episodes. Takara dolls look a lot like the Sailor Moon characters (prolly because they both originated from Japan).

Dressing them up gives the fun side of me, and taking photos of them gives more. A part of this blog will now be about my two little girls: Michiko and Hitomi.

Hello and warmest hugs to you <3
-Hitomi and Michiko

Hitomi is the red-haired girl and Michiko is the blonde one.

No more Finding Nemo, its Chasing Yello now

Love fishes? This game is for you.

Meet Yello, seven-year-old Mathilda's pet. All he wanted was to escape from his impish owner, so when Mathilda tried to let him swim in a creek, Yello makes sure that he'll escape her and her net.

Did you see that? Mathilda and her wicked laughing shadow.
Geez, swim Yello swim!

How do you play this game?

This is another simple but runner game using tilt and swipe controls (like the temple run games) to make Yello dive, jump and swim past obstacles. Your aim is to collect stars that can be used to purchase power-ups and unlock challenges. But it doesn't end up at that. Yello have to avoid obstacles like rocks, logs (and burning logs), and even being bitten by piranhas too.

Last score before hitting the sack yesterday

Goal completed.
And I was rewarded with one coin for the goal bonus

Unlocking challenges and goals will give you multipliers to attain a bigger and better score. Power-ups, on the other hand, includes: a jetpack, which is good for avoiding obstacles; a magnet, which automatically sucks the stars that you might miss while swimming; and a start multiplier which doubles the stars that you get.

Oh! you're going to love these goodies.
So better get more stars to avail them.

Another good power-up to have is unlocking Pinky, a female counterpart of Yello. She's is tougher (she's got two lives), braver and swims faster (moves faster too) than Yello. You have to spend 10,000 stars to get Pinky.

Pinky. And the tagline I love the most.

An online leaderboard is also available in which you can post your score over the net and compete with your friends. It also allows users (Yello's fans) to connect via Facebook and Twitter.

The goals will let you have special coins
 for the rank bonus to make your scores bigger.

This game is developed by Tactile Entertainment ApS and is published by Dreamfab. Available in iOS and Android platforms.

Android users, you can have the apk here

Beep bop baloobap yes to Bibimbap

The Bibimbap Experience

Last Sunday was awesome, went out to meet friends who I haven't seen for a long time. It was a bit late, and we need to eat so we tried a Korean restaurant called Bulgogi Brothers. I know that Korean foods are usually spicy, and I kind of hate that. I don't like spicy foods. But in this case, I came to enjoy the food even if its slightly spicy.

Tried bibimbap for the first time. It was yummy, but really spicy.

Bibimbap. Freshly served. Haven't mixed it though

Bibimbap is basically a bowl of 'mixed rice'. Its a combination of white cooked rice topped with pre-cooked veggies and your choice of meat [seafood, beef or chicken... I chose beef because I have food allergies and I can't eat too much seafood]. The ingredients are mixed thoroughly before eating.

Mixed bibimbap! YAAAY!

What makes bibimbap and other Korean dishes popular is the chili paste they use in every dish. Aside from bibimbap, we also ordered Bulgogi [its a thinly sliced marinated grilled meat] which they will cook using a built-in induction cooker on the table.

Might try creating a version of bibimbap soon. I just hope its going to be as delicious as the first bibimbap that we ate.

How I see the bibimbap experience?
It was fun. Spicy. Yummy. A bit of pricey but its worth the experience I had.