--=Ana's Cyber Retreat=-

At last, I was able to cook the pork with mixed vegetables that we call "Pinakbet" at home. Wow, pinakbet is delicious, it taste great! I liked it a lot, and you know just today I was going to cook another batch of it, but then I forgot the main ingredient...LOL. I arrived home and prepared the vegetables then when I was about to cook them I remembered that I need pork. Oh, I forgot it, now I put off cooking pinakbet even when I was planning to have it for dinner. My husband was going to run to the store for me but then I became very busy voice-chatting with my father so I just said to wait and go tomorrow. Oh, well, things happen and today were one of my mishaps missing out on my tasty dinner. I will have to put my vegetables away for now. By the way, see below for my second try with cooking pinakbet. It's a yummy pinoy dish. I especially like the bitter gourd/melon because it makes me eat; the taste is perfect with everything combined. So here I go, sharing my pinakbet that I cooked nicely. I read a few recipes and combined all the ingredients I thought would be great and whalah...I cooked it to perfection.

We love cupcakes, and we buy a lot for our snack. We also take cupcakes whenever we decide to go somewhere far away from home, or when we go have a picnic at the beach or park, only I don't like it when the cupcakes get all crumbled, so that is no good. We surely wish we have this cupcake holder to keep our cupcakes from unintentional smooshing and accidental smearing. I never knew that there is a container available for us to purchase so we can protect our cupcakes from being destroyed. Who would want to eat a cupcake that doesn't look like a cupcake anymore anyway? They easily break off, so a good thing that we can keep them preserved.

Here is a yummy breakfast, a maple sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. I guess since I have two in the picture, I should say breakfast sandwiches. Well, anyway, my husband saw them on sale and so he bought some to try them, and my, they are good! I like them a lot especially when the croissants are so soft and fluffy. So I would just eat one or two of those breakfast sandwiches every once in a while with a cup of cappuccino. My husband has those sweet muffins, rolls, and those breakfast sandwiches, and so I just help myself. I also eat doughnut holes sometimes with my cappuccino. They are good, too. Anyway, let me share a picture I took of my usual breakfast. They are my favorite so far, as I don't really care too much for those sweet breakfast foods like pancakes, waffles etc. So I go for the mild to eat foods for breakfast.

I am afraid I am suffering from Insomnia. Oh, it's awful because I was not able to get some sleep last night at all. I kept twisting and turning but it was like I had too many things running through my mind, keeping me awake all night. So I finally got out of bed and turned the computer on. A good thing I did because my mother was online and we were able to chat for a while until past 7:00 AM in the morning. I went back to bed thereafter and I think I was able to get a few hours of sleep-but really I am not sure of that. I am sleep deprived and perhaps it is because I have been drinking too much cappuccino-an Italian coffee-based drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and milk foam. It is either the cappuccino or the inactivity in my life that makes me restless. Anyway, it's Sunday, and I have some washing to catch up on and dinner to prepare, so I need to go for now. I just wanted to jot down a little about my sleeping problem. I might have Insomnia, and well, I could look like an old lady in no time if I keep up the staying up too late bad habit of mine, as if I am not starting to look like an old lady already. I am deteriorating...LOL-but nah, it is not laughing matter. Who would want to get old anyway, unless there is something waiting for you except death? I don't want to go so soon though if I can help it.

When time permits me I always like to watch the travel channel because it is entertaining for me to watch the different travelers on there like Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and the rest of the gangs. Oh, it makes me hungry to watch them travel and eat food from different cultures/countries. I can eat what they eat except the live ones; I don't like to eat anything raw, except if it is like fish and oysters that has vinegar and lemons. Speaking of food, I am thinking about fixing a "fish kilawin" (raw fish soaked in vinegar with spices when I can go to a Filipino store soon. Anyway, I can only wish I can travel someday and eat food from different cultures. It fascinates me to travel and explore what the rest of the world offers. I especially like the food...LOL and I find eating some of the food that Andrew Zimmern eats appetizing. I am an adventurous eater and I can easily try out eating some food I am not normally used to as long it is cooked and doesn't smell so awful. I don't think I can eat snakes, raw frogs, raw insects, and rats, etc. Those would definitely turn my stomach inside out...oh, so gross. Alright this is all for now. I just thought I would share what I find interesting and wish I can do what those travelers do; travel, meet people of different ethnicities and eat yummy food!

I love cooking; only I am still in the process of learning how to cook like a chef. So far I have learned how to cook the Chinese dish called "tomato beef" it is very tasty to eat with rice. I also learned to cook "chicken soup"-the best I think. It is a secret recipe that was given to my husband's daughter in law by an old lady. And it was passed on to us. I might share a recipe of my cooking online on the site where all food lovers like me can connect and share recipes of foods we love. Anyway, if you are a food lover, you might like visiting the site yourself at: http://tinyurl.com/2xzjh7 and share or find a recipe. You can even make a request with what recipe you are looking for, and rate the recipes you like. Hear more about it below.
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This is all about asparagus. We found just the store where we buy them really cheap. Asparagus are actually on sale right now, or some time ago anyway when we bought some. My, asparagus are great when grilled. We grill them when we decide to have steak for dinner. So that is what we have with our steak, asparagus. They go so well with our steak dinner. Anyway, I researched about asparagus and came across a website that is by the Michigan Advisory Board, promoting asparagus as the best food people can consume. I agree with that, for sure, because asparagus are delicious; quite tasty especially when grilled. They taste kinda sweet, I guess grilling them makes them taste a little sweet. Asparagus reminds me of bamboo shoots, they taste similar to bamboo shoots that we get at home in the Philippines. They must belong in the same category of veggies. Anyway, I just wanted to share about asparagus because they are good for us. They are healthy to eat. We bought some really enormous ones, see them below, blow up the pic to take a closer look. I didn't have time to put them in a good platters as I was ready to throw them on the grill...LOL. I just pulled them out of the palstic bag and washed them for grilling..eheheh. Okay, see yah!

We all like to have a little drink during the holidays. Now, do you out there know where to get that special bottle of liquor? If not, you may join me with finding your kind of drink at the site that has so many for us to choose from. People where I live now especially love drinking on New Year's Eve celebrating the New Year. So, if we were to buy something to drink this New Year, I would head to the site that has liquors on sale, I mean on marked down prices. They are great for gift-giving, you know, and certainly for making any celebration a joyous one. In fact, I found a recipe there for concocting a perfect glass of absinthe. Now, I have never drunk it, and I am willing to try if we can make it. It seems quick and easy to mix such drink, so I think we can handle it. Anyway, how about you there, are you interested? You can mix your own drink by following the recipe given right on the site; you have nothing to lose after all, as it is free. So, why not help yourself with knowing how, it doesn't take much to do so. So, just come, visit the site at: http://www.originalabsinthe.com/absinthe_drinks.php to see for yourself, learn something new and interesting to make your holiday celebrations always a blast.

I found a website that is a leading people search application which combines next generation search technology and community contributions to create relevant results. Its mission is to help any of us find and organize information about people in our lives. The website is called Spock at http://www.spock.com/. And do you know that I found those entertaining chefs there? Well, it is definitely the website to see about those Food Network Personalities like some of my favorites Chefs. Imagine I can find them there at the http://www.spock.com/q/food-network, and can even see how old they are, what their specialties are, etc.
How nice and convenient that I found it. I can now have a way to specifically search for the people I would like to look up on the net. There is also a way for me to join in, that if I know something which might be helpful and informative to others, I could make my contribution by signing up. The options are that to shape what people find about us on the internet, share our knowledge, get informed, and stay in touch. The website offers a very functional tool to search for people that contributes a lot to our society.
We could look up for people we are interested in by typing in their names, locations, or simply the keywords to find them online. Now, that is great! I am glad I found the website, so I can start looking for those I want to get know a little more than just seeing them on television. It is exciting to read about them, like those Food Network Personalities/Chefs that can cook and keep us entertained. Surely, the http://www.spock.com/ is a great place to start our search for interesting people we like to find out more about.