Dusting Off
I feel apologetic to this blog almost as much as I would to a real person that I had ignored, and most possibly even shunned, the past few months that I have.
Dear blog: I am sorry.
My 4D life has been busy, way too busy, as of late that the idea of putting every single detail on paper (or in this case, virtual paper) seemed too daunting a task. What if I missed out on one important thing? What if I can't express it properly? Those were a few of the foolish worries I had. What seems more foolish now is having neglected this blog altogether. God, I've missed writing. I mean, who cares if the subject goes all loopy and I use more keysmash than what's healthy? It straight from the heart, I tell you. Straight from the heart.
Anyway.
First things first: I've resigned from my job and I've never been happier.
I mean, sure I'll miss my friends there. They're good people, my work friends. We like to eat. Once in a while we go crazy and eat breakfast or lunch at Bellevue just for kicks. More than enough times we've gone straight to a bar after work. I've never smoked a cigarette once while being employed there although I've done it second-handedly since almost everyone there seems to be incapable of functioning without a pack of cigarettes in their purse or pockets.
I quit because I value respect and integrity, and there wasn't any in the relationship between managers and employees. It was always like being in a very very tense marriage where you were the losing party. I was sick of it.
Second: I think my culinary skills are improving.
Jerome's taught me quite a few dishes, including one vegetable soup made out of roughly chopped zucchini, potatoes, celery, and carrots and simmered in a lovely tomato sauce. It's like minestrone minus the pasta and with tomato. Add in a pile of cilantro and you're set. I cooked it for my family and even my dad, the Doubting Thomas of my cooking skills, approved. There was also one morning wherein, frustrated that there was no ready-made "breakfast" (i.e. Pop Tarts, cookies) on hand, I proceeded to make pasta puttanesca from scratch after seeing two cans of stewed tomatoes in the cupboard and knowing perfectly well that we had a bag of pasta somewhere in the kitchen.
It was marvelous.
Third: McCuin Honey
This is honey "farmed" by Jerome. He's a "gentleman farmer" in its most technical term: owns (well in his case, rents) the land but has others do the job for him. In his defense, he hadn't known that the bees that had been pestering him all summer were secretly harvesting this rich gooey concoction (quite literally) behind his back.
The story goes that he and Mr. Centeno (the landlord) were trying to get some work done in the backyard. There was an overturned pot in the backyard, a huge terracotta one, and Mr. Centeno had told him that the bees had made a hive inside of the pot. Jerome, being the natural skeptic that he is, didn't believe him and said that they should check to be sure.
Long story short: the pot was toppled over, a swarm of bees came after them, and they hid in the house. Luckily, the boy, Leo, was there and came at the hive like he was a Bee Whisperer. His efforts resulted in stacks and stacks of honeycombs which was then used to get the honey that's pictured above. It was great! I like it on toast and my mom and my aunt put it in tea. :)
That's my life in a nutshell so far. I'm leaving for Korea in a few days and I'm so excited (and so unbelievably stressed out by it) that I can barely sleep. But it's all good. All good, baby.
Dear blog: I am sorry.
My 4D life has been busy, way too busy, as of late that the idea of putting every single detail on paper (or in this case, virtual paper) seemed too daunting a task. What if I missed out on one important thing? What if I can't express it properly? Those were a few of the foolish worries I had. What seems more foolish now is having neglected this blog altogether. God, I've missed writing. I mean, who cares if the subject goes all loopy and I use more keysmash than what's healthy? It straight from the heart, I tell you. Straight from the heart.
Anyway.
First things first: I've resigned from my job and I've never been happier.
I mean, sure I'll miss my friends there. They're good people, my work friends. We like to eat. Once in a while we go crazy and eat breakfast or lunch at Bellevue just for kicks. More than enough times we've gone straight to a bar after work. I've never smoked a cigarette once while being employed there although I've done it second-handedly since almost everyone there seems to be incapable of functioning without a pack of cigarettes in their purse or pockets.
I quit because I value respect and integrity, and there wasn't any in the relationship between managers and employees. It was always like being in a very very tense marriage where you were the losing party. I was sick of it.
Second: I think my culinary skills are improving.
Jerome's taught me quite a few dishes, including one vegetable soup made out of roughly chopped zucchini, potatoes, celery, and carrots and simmered in a lovely tomato sauce. It's like minestrone minus the pasta and with tomato. Add in a pile of cilantro and you're set. I cooked it for my family and even my dad, the Doubting Thomas of my cooking skills, approved. There was also one morning wherein, frustrated that there was no ready-made "breakfast" (i.e. Pop Tarts, cookies) on hand, I proceeded to make pasta puttanesca from scratch after seeing two cans of stewed tomatoes in the cupboard and knowing perfectly well that we had a bag of pasta somewhere in the kitchen.
It was marvelous.
Third: McCuin Honey
This is honey "farmed" by Jerome. He's a "gentleman farmer" in its most technical term: owns (well in his case, rents) the land but has others do the job for him. In his defense, he hadn't known that the bees that had been pestering him all summer were secretly harvesting this rich gooey concoction (quite literally) behind his back.
The story goes that he and Mr. Centeno (the landlord) were trying to get some work done in the backyard. There was an overturned pot in the backyard, a huge terracotta one, and Mr. Centeno had told him that the bees had made a hive inside of the pot. Jerome, being the natural skeptic that he is, didn't believe him and said that they should check to be sure.
Long story short: the pot was toppled over, a swarm of bees came after them, and they hid in the house. Luckily, the boy, Leo, was there and came at the hive like he was a Bee Whisperer. His efforts resulted in stacks and stacks of honeycombs which was then used to get the honey that's pictured above. It was great! I like it on toast and my mom and my aunt put it in tea. :)
That's my life in a nutshell so far. I'm leaving for Korea in a few days and I'm so excited (and so unbelievably stressed out by it) that I can barely sleep. But it's all good. All good, baby.