u-journal

This recipe was also presented to me as part of the Basic Thai course that I have recently taken. Pretty nice as well.

Ingredients (for 2 people)

• 1/8 cup canola oil (I guess other vegetable oil might be used, probably *not* olive oil this time, sorry…)
• 1 tablespoons green curry paste (well, this is a very *important* ingredient. I live right now here in Singapore and there is a cool place for shopping real Thai stuff: Golden Mile Complex. One of the recommended curry paste brands is: “Blue Elephant” )
• 2 whole lime leaves
• 150 grams chicken breasts without skin, cubed
• Eggplant, diced (Thai eggplant would be better. We also used this tiny eggplant which looks like green peas and is also Thai)
• 5 whole basil leaves for garnish
• Dissolve together: 1 can coconut milk + water (Add water to coconut milk to achieve desired consistency. Coconut milk may curdle id the heat is too high whilst adding).

Preparation

1. On a medium heat, in a large saucepan, heat the oil and add green curry paste and saute for 2 minutes.
2. Add lime leaves and continue to saute till fragrant.
3. Add chicken and one third of the coconut milk mixture and let it come to a boil.
4. Lower heat and gradually add the rest of the coconut milk stirring constantly and bring back to a boil.
5. Add eggplants, cover and simmer till eggplant is tender.
6. Garnish with basil leaves before serving.

Notes

• Well, I added also shelled shrimps, and it was pretty good
• I used *low calories* coconut milk. Taste-wise great BUT the curry itself was a little bit too liquid for my taste. Next time I will try adding cornstarch or flour to see if I get it thicker…

A couple of weeks ago I attended a pretty cool Thai cooking course here in Singapore, at “Coriander Leaf” restaurant/academy. From the eight dishes that were cooked, one of my favorites was Tom Yam Koong (a.k.a. soup). Here is the recipe.-

Ingredients (for 2 people)

• 1 liter chicken stock
• 1 stalk lemon grass
• 3 whole kaffir lime leaves (lime might be used instead, I mean a little piece of the fruit)
• 2 slices of blue ginger (galangal — regular ginger might be used. The blue variant is so cool, smells totally like pine)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (should be added at the end because it gets bitter)
• 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (hehehehe)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Thai chili paste
• 200 grams shrimp, shelled and deveined (you may use frozen shrimp :-o)
• 1 can straw or oyster mushrooms, drained (I would guess fresh might be better :-p)
• some evaporated milk, optional (well, this is to kill the spiciness, very cool tip if you mouth is in fire, heheeh)

Preparation

1. Bring the stock to the boil, add all the aromatics and seasoning and cook for 10 minutes
2. Lower heat, then add the shrimps and mushrooms. Simmer for 3-4 minutes till the shrimps are cooked.
3. Taste and add more lime juice and/or fish sauce if needed — soup should be spicy-sour and a little salty (very exotic).
4. Add evaporated milk if your mouth burns
5. Serve garnished with fresh coriander leaves

Basically, I love this dish! It is so easy and EXOTIC. Good for dating

My first shisha order has arrived in Singapore. I am looking forward so much for it!!! I am not sure yet how the process will be, if customs will contact me, etc… I just think it will be fine. This is the courier tracking system page:

—————-

Wowowowwwwwwww, good news! I just got back from the Post Office. I got my order. No problems, everything fast & nice.

That is the Spanish name of the recipe that I cooked last night for dinner. It was really good and simple, that is way I feel like I need to keep it here :-p

The recipe (in Spanish — I’ll try to translate it into English) may be found here:

Caldereta de pescado

Yeah, the translation is here!!!

Caldereta de Pescado (fish stew)

ingredients.-

• 1.5 Kg of assorted white “rock” fish such as: cod fish, grouper, conger, etc…
• 1 big onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 green pepper
• Pepper and salt
• 3 tomatoes (ripe)
• Olive oil
• 1.5 liters of water
• Spanish bread (similar to French bread; it could be baguette)
• Fresh parsley
• 1 hard-boiled egg yolk
• Paprika
• Fish liver (optional)

preparation.-

Chop the onion very thin (a.k.a. “julienne style”) and put on a clay saucepan with some olive oil, low heat. After a while add 3 garlic cloves (sliced).  After 5 minutes of slow cooking you should add the pepper chopped in small pieces.  Before the onion starts getting brown you should grate and add the tomatoes.  Put salt and pepper over the fish, stir fry on the saucepan and add the water after a while. The heat should be now high until the water starts boiling, then turn low again, and leave it for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the fish chunks. Add the parslet, egg yolk, paprika, garlic clove and fish liver (optional) 5 minutes before this 15 - 20 minutes period is over. Check saltiness. Cut the bread in thin slices (3-4 mm) and toast on the oven — warning: they should not get colored (it would affect the stew’s taste).

While serving, put a couple of toasts on each plate, then the stew on top.

enjoy!

I have just written, signed and presented my resignation letter. This is more of a formality that I need to go through in order to move to Singapore, but emotionally represents quite a bit more.

Here it is:

I know the one here is not signed (:-p), but the one I endorsed has been properly signed using a blue ball-pen.

As you may probably know, I am moving to Singapore very soon. The estimated date for this is 1st May 2008.

I have a few (nice) things that I feel forced to sell now (snif, snif…) which you may find on the following table:

item	age (months)	price (php)	notes
Abstract Painting (framed) size: 95cm x 197cm	12	7,500	pic-1, pic-2
Landscape Painting (framed) size: 95cm x 65cm	8	3,000	pic-1, pic-2
Wooden Chest (Pine) size: 50cm x 50cm x 95 cm	7	6,000 3,000	pic-1, pic-2, pic-3, pic-4
Curtains + bar (set#1) size: 3m x 2.50m	4	1,200 800	pic-1, pic-2
Curtains + bar (set#2) size: 2.50m x 2.50m	4	1,000 650	pic-1, pic-2, pic-3, pic-4
Wooden Foot Stool size: 52cm x 88cm x 32cm	10	5,000 2,500	with 2 covers (red & orange) pic-1, pic-2
Side Table (glass) size: 45cm x 60cm x 50cm It broke yesterday	8	1,000	pic-1, pic-2
Sofa (two-seater) size: 80cm x 140cm x 75cm	10	2,500 2,000	pic-1, pic-2, pic-3
Office Desk size: 90cm x 45cm x 73cm	8	1,200 1,000	It has 1 drawer pic-1, pic-2, pic-3
Complete Queen Bed size: 155cm x 225cm x 55cm	8	15,000 12,000	Still under warranty Sales invoice available pic-1, pic-2, pic-3, pic-4, pic-5
Trash can (stainless steel) size: “medium”	4	400	pic-1
Towel Rack (stainless steel) size: can hold about 6-8 towels	4	600	pic-1
Plants (a lot)	4 to 12	100	this is the price for 1 piece pic-1, pic-2, pic-3, pic-4

This stuff has already been sold:

I am still working on the pictures. Also I have some other usual-homy-stuff (i.e. kitchenware) which I am not sure yet if it is worth to include on the table BUT for sure I need to get rid of…

Who do you think really won in the Marquez-Pacquiao fight?

I am a foreigner living and working in Manila (Makati). Last January I bought a Nissan Terrano to a friend. He is also Spanish and lives here in the Philippines (he works with leather, that’s why the car has leather seats).

The reason why I am selling the car is because I am being relocated to Singapore.

It is in excellent condition; the previous owner was using it for shopping mainly (yeah, he has five cars). I have taken it on a few weekend trips (namely: Batangas, Nasugbu, Tagaytay and Subic).

I changed the engine oil, cleaned the aircon and put a new cool MP3/WMA audio system on January.

Summarizing:

• Nissan Terrano (model 1996)
• Gasoline
• Manual transmission
• 70,000 Kmts
• Italian Leather Seats
• e-pass
• CD/MP3/WMA Audio System (Pioneer DEH-2950MP)
• Excellent Condition
• 240,000 php
• You may find some more pictures here

Call/Text: 0921.570.4427

Posted Ads:

• Kotse.com
• Grupo Toyota
• Kotsemo.com

Other stuff:

• How to sell a car (forum)

Last night I got pretty shocked when I realized that… I had already forgotten that I used to smoke shisha every night. I know it sounds weird. I just got home. It was late. I was tired. I wanted to do something but did not know what. Then I saw the shisha tobacco can sitting there.

I have been smoking shisha almost every night for the last four years of my life. I have stopped doing this for the last couple of weeks because I got stomach problems (again). My point here… it’s all about habits. I had already forgotten that I liked smoking shisha so my “need” for it was no longer being experienced…

I do think that this can be extended to any aspect in life. Includig sex, yeah. That is what probably happens in Spain, where the mere fact that you never get any creates the habit of abstinence. So you don’t need it anymore.

Just a random thought.

A few weekends ago I went to Nasugbu (Batangas). This is just a brief list of places that I visited that may be worth remembering (just for the records, ha):

• Dalampasigan restaurant
• Munting Buhanging public beach (on the way to Pico de Loro, Nasugbu-Cavite road — watch out, this road is NOT yet finished :-p)
• Johndel beach resort (1500 php/night twin sharing)
• Celing’s halo-halo (near Metrobank, Nasugbu city proper)

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