Inspired by the Barefoot Contessa

To keep myself dead hungry while doing my everyday routine I watch shows from this fantastic lady on the Food Network. I admit I am a fan just as I am a fan of Nigella Lawson. I can cook but maybe not as good as them; but I may have chances to do that when following recipes. I probably have a lot to say but here's why I love how they do this. Whipping up a cake and a couple of main dishes for an event wouldn't hurt!



The old techniques of getting every dry and wet ingredient together first before mixing everything is the key. I'm not much into baking either but I can probably do this. Yeap, guys like me can cook too... don't ask why but it maybe because I went to market almost every week with my Mum back then hence the ability to cook anything I want heheh... Although I only do spicy things better that part where she creamed the chocolate is oh soooo yummy!



How I wish I also had a house in the Hamptons so I could have the quaint lifestyle (if that is quaint by your standards) that they have. I love to get to know them too. I would be so lucky to have them as neighbors and maybe just maybe it'll come true one of these days. She is a Nuclear expert by the way and had no formal training in cooking. I guess the model of all american women these days are a far cry from Martha Stewart huh?! Maybe they were making bombs before they made cake and made them glow of the radiation. My mind is playing tricks on me again... I have a weird sense of humor I know! Ha-ha!




I haven't had a book by her yet so I'm planning to get one tomorrow. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two about making simple things out of our kitchen. After all it has been a focal point in our home all these years and that oven is probably getting a little rusty hehehe. My brother doesn't cook when he's here in the Philippines but since I'm in the mood these days to cook maybe I'll get inspired to bake a cake and eat it too literally! Don't you just love that Chocolate Buttercream Frosting she made?! Ugh! Diet Epic Fail! LOL!

The Pains of Bankruptcy

I have seen a lot of people suffering in the US after the recession. I have friends who went through the same trials as everybody else there and still... they haven't recovered because they earn so little than what they used to. Filing bankruptcy was one of the easy things to do at that time but there are really big repercussions in doing that. The measly help from the government would not be able to get the children to school nor feed them three times a day. If this happened to them it would surely be possible anywhere else in the world.

United States insolvency dossiers increased to almost 14% at the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Bankruptcies dropped slightly from 2009 for non businesses. Although at the same period Chapter 7 liquidation and Chapter 13 reorganization (the one for personal bankruptcy) indicated significant increases. This has been affirmed by well known Sacramento bankruptcy attorney Gerald Glazer.

The worldwide and US recession that began in December 2007 ended in June 2009. This makes it the longest since the Great Depression. The National Bureau of Economic Research confirms this as we have seen the worse 18 months in that same period. These businesses appear to be recovering now but personal bankruptcy still lingers because of long-term unemployment and re-employment of the same people with lower indicated earnings. I hope it would not happen to us anytime soon. I am hopeful that the country's economic managers would be able to formulate a way to produce safeguards so we wouldn't suffer the same fate. Otherwise we'll stay in the third world title for a longer time.








Disclosure Policy

For Victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

400 hundred people confirmed dead and hundreds more still missing; that is the thing that made my day miserable yesterday. It was horrific; just to see the actual tsunami take over the city of Tokyo, the Miyagi Prefecture and other provinces in the outskirts of Honshu. My heart was broken seeing people still inside their cars as they are being swept away parallel with yachts and fishing boats. Survivors desperately climb up their houses and wave white cloths as helicopters try and save whoever they can. There are still a lot of people under debris and probably having so hard to keep themselves alive after those set of waves that ravaged the country. My condolences to everyone in Japan. To the Japanese people, I only can do much but I am so heartbroken... I adore your country and your citizens... I sincerely hope you get through this.

I Should Have Been SMARTer!

It was my Mom's birthday a few days ago and we just had a grand celebration. Some of our relatives went to our house and celebrated this special day. Mom has around 13 siblings so you kinda get to understand how big "her" part of the family is and it is "doubly hard" to get them together at this day and age. Thank God for free video conferencing software; we got to talk some of them every once in a while through that medium. We seldom do this because I have one of the worse connections in the world. As much as I like how it does work with a mediocre 21/7 schedule... the connection is slow. Once you get a single person online with video you wouldn't be able to see the other ones; so much for conference calls if you can talk to only one person then huh?!

Then I remember... I got to see the better half of the Master Rapper Ms. Pia Magalona a few days before that who just switched to SMART Bro because of the bad experience she had on another provider's billing horror story... dang I almost wanted to throw mine out the window because of her speed tests.


Mine was 0.2 download and .02 upload with almost the same ping rate. Yeah I know... she did literally outSMART us all because we were on different connections. I'm a Computer Engineer by profession so I have a big idea what these rates are for. If I'm not getting the actual rate promised by my provider (which had the clause and word "UPTO" on all their packages) what am I going to do to get what I pay for?! EXACTLY my point!

With that out in the open I'll ask my Mom to wait for a few weeks while I weigh my chances getting a Smart Bro too. Check out one of the best things why I had to get one as soon as possible!

I can easily get SMART BRO Unlimited Home Broadband Plan 999 or 1995 for Free surf + Free All in one Printer + Free Calls and Texts with SMART Gold Lite Plan 300 for 6 months subscription + that connection rate... it just spells BLISS for me! What the hell was I thinking when I got mine huh?! That may just be the last straw so I could switch to SMART BRO now!

My Mom would have had the perfect birthday she wished for if we would have had a better line to get connected in the first place. I would give the WHOLE WORLD for her just like any good son would do! What a wonderful world this would have been for me too if I got what I need right?! You should too!


These are the times we should get SMARTer... and SMART BRO! Ha-ha! =)