Archive for April, 2009

A not so cool wedding venue due to swine flu…

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

The pandemic that has been the subject of every news for the past week is  narcissistic-couplenow nettling and really peeving in my nerves.  The continuous public announcement to never worry is giving the public an opposite reaction.  I never used nor heard the word “pandemic” in my entire existence but the usage of this word for the past week is too much that my system no longer want to swallow it. The health officials prefer to use such word instead of epidemic for the swine flu due to the wide geographic span that got affected which is US and Mexico.

The source of trepidation that force the public to wear a mask is Mexico.  The virus that comes from swine/pig but not by eating it instead through a  direct contact with the animal and the contaminated human  can be a carrier of the the virus to other humans.

Mexico is the favorite getaway of  Americans who want to have a beach themed wedding… second to Hawaii, in my opinion.  A story that featured in the news just nestled in my thoughts about the couple who canceled their wedding  in Mexico.  This is the  way of the media to show how serious is the case of swine flu although impertinent to others.  The couple is about to hold their vow in Mexico together with some friends and family.  Since the pandemic is  a big threat to every one’s health the couple decided to cancel their wedding in Mexico and decided to head off to Bahamas.  Well, i don’t care as to where they want to have it but what triggered me  to react is the couple’s  foolish decision.  The mother of the bride was interviewed  and she said that she wont be able to go to Bahamas because she can’t afford it and so are the rest of the friends who are supposed to attend the wedding in a couple of days.  It’s a common knowledge that there is a cancellation fee and some cases if you buy it online there is no cancellation nor refund policy.  The couple was adamant to go to Bahamas and get married without family & friends.

I agree… definitely!  cancel the Mexico wedding since it compromise your health but the wise option is to have the wedding locally to where they could celebrate it with friends and family.   The two swift off  to island for the beach wedding is like a case of “announced elopement”.  A wedding can only be as  memorable and as significant when shared with the people dear to us. It is  quite  narcissistic for the couple to disregard the financial aspect of the people they consider dear to them.  No matter how great nor grand is your wedding venue, if there are no friends nor relatives around… it will be a waste!   …  The very reason why there is such thing called “Honeymoon” is for the couple to have each other alone to where ever they want to… no friends, no relatives around.

Indeed, the swine flu pandemic caused a great strain to many although the economic scene is as pandemic as the latter so none of these phase should  lull us instead continue living and in opting to have a wiser decisions in life.

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Baptism celebration 101

Monday, April 27th, 2009

baptism-rite_001 Welcoming your child to your religious belief is one of the important events that the parents have to tackle.
Rites vary depending on the church that a couple belongs to.  Baptism celebration can be a beautiful event to share with family and friends.  This is the time that the important people in your life can witness the welcoming rite of the infant to Christianity.  Baptism in Catholic rite is the most familiar one to me since I came from the genealogy of Catholic faithfuls.

It is recommendable that the rite should take place when the baby is still months old.  On the months that the baby has not receive the sacrament yet,  it is  practiced (by some, i guess) that the baby should not be brought out of the house.  Taking in consideration the modernization of times,  old practices can be a thing of the past.  Since lifestyle of the couple most specially the working couple,  baptism of the baby may take place later than the usual tradition.

To celebrate baptism, preparation has to be dealt with.

Church… yes, you have to schedule the date of baptism.  You can not just walk in and ask the priest to baptize your baby.  Depending on availability,  it’s better to allocate a conservative time like one to two months in advance.  Choose your own parish church or you may want to do it in a historical church of your choice. The advantage of allocating time is more time to prepare and convenience to  your out of town family and friends.

Reception… this can be at your house or restaurant for your convenience.  If you decide to hold the event in the restaurant, reservation is a must.  Again, allocating time is a must.  The convenience of having the reception in the restaurant is the “eat and go” idea.  No need to clean after the event in which most of the time is the  tiring part in any celebration.  This is mostly true to the working couple.  When you decide to hold it at home, you may consider catering.  This way  allocating time for the set-up of the table and some other whimsies are the only concern.  Cooking can consume majority of your time most especially when you’re expecting more than ten guests.  Must consider the distance between the church and the reception area for convenience.

Invitations… there are choices in the market to invite your family and friends.  E-vite, is the online invitation which is fine if all of your family or friends have computer access.  Affordable paper invitation is the traditional way  and you can do it your own.  If you have a creative skills, you can do wonders in a simple card stock.

Buying favors… there’s no other way to sincerely gratify the presence of the people who attended the important event of your baby.  There are lots of choices that your budget can handle.  You can choose buying it online for convenience and make sure to choose a favor store that offers free packaging, free thank you tags or you may spare some bucks by personalizing your tags in which the date of the event and the name of the celebrant are indicated.  You may browse www.whimsandlikes.com for some samples of baptism favors.

Godparents…  deliberately take time to choose the significant people you can assign the responsibility of being your baby’s godparents.  I must say that my parents did a poor job on this aspect,  I have only seen one of my six godparents and that is because she’s my Aunt, the rest just vanished!… Avoid this mistake.

Considering all the things above… you’re set for celebrating the baptism of your angel!

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scrambled or sunny side up… will be right up!

Friday, April 17th, 2009

easy-recipes-with-eggs_001For all the  moms and “wifeys”, thinking of  what food to cook can be a tormenting job especially when you exhaust all the recipes you know and when the occasional laziness sets in.  Eggs!… a saver in the kitchen.  Sunny side up, well done in the middle with rice or toasted bread is already a meal for me.  The thing is, for moms and wives,   considering our partner’s & kid’s belly is significant in preparing the meal.

For those times that we just feel spending less time cooking,  egg recipes are best to consider.  Here are some of the recipes that wont let you down coming from my favorite chefs like Ina Garten, Rachel Ray & Tyler Florence.

quiche

Recipe 1

Quiche  from Eatingwell.com-30mins

  • 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 8 ounces turkey breakfast sausage , removed from casing and  crumbled into small pieces
  • 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/4 cup sliced scallions
  • 1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 5 eggs
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 cup 1% milk
Directions:

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Coat a nonstick muffin tin generously with cooking spray (see Tip).

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Add oil to the pan. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to the bowl with the sausage. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in scallions, cheese and pepper.

Whisk eggs, egg whites and milk in a medium bowl. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the sausage mixture into each cup.

Bake until the tops are just beginning to brown, 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Place a rack on top of the pan, flip it over and turn the quiches out onto the rack. Turn upright and let cool completely.A good-quality nonstick muffin tin works best for this recipe. If you don’t have one, line a regular muffin tin with foil baking cups.

Recipe 2

Eggs Benedict by Rachel Ray- 20mins.

  • 4 English muffins
  • 8 eggs
  • 16 ounces smoked Idaho trout or salmon
  • Hollandaise Sauce, recipe follows
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves or dill, for garnish
  • Paprika, for garnish

Directions:

Split the English muffins in half and then toast or grill them; set them aside. Fill a large shallow pan with 2 to 3 inches of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and gently break the eggs into the boiling water. Cook the eggs until the yolks are set to the desired doneness, about 3 minutes. Remove the eggs from the heat. Heat the smoked trout in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 30 seconds or until heated through. Arrange the toasted English muffins on plates and top with the trout. Using a slotted spoon, place 1 poached egg on top of each English muffin. Spoon warm Hollandaise Sauce over the eggs and sprinkle with parsley and a dash of paprika to garnish. Serve immediately.

Hollandaise Sauce: 1 pound butter

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon hot sauce

6 egg yolks

Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy saucepan. While butter is melting, whisk together white wine, lemon juice, and hot sauce in a large metal bowl. Whisk in the egg yolks. Place the bowl over a skillet of simmering water and continue whisking over medium heat until a custard consistency develops. Slowly whisk in the melted butter. Continue whisking until the sauce is rich and smooth.

Recipe 3omelet

Omelet by Ina Garten- 35 mins

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 pound good thick-cut bacon
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 cup medium-diced Yukon gold potato
  • 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
  • 5 extra-large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons milk or cream
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts
  • 4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, diced, plus extra grated cheese, for garnish
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the bacon crosswise in 1-inch slices. Cook the bacon in an 8-inch ovenproof saute pan over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned. Drain the bacon on paper towels and discard the fat from the pan. Add the butter to the pan, and then add the potato and yellow onion. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the onion starts to brown and the potato is tender but firm. Add the jalapeno pepper and cook for 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together with a fork. Stir in the scallions and diced Cheddar. When the potato is cooked, add the bacon to the pan and pour over the egg mixture. Place the pan in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the omelet puffs and the eggs are almost cooked in the center. Sprinkle with a handful of grated Cheddar and bake for another minute. Serve hot directly from the pan.

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Arabica Coffee, Cookie & Me with… “The View”

Monday, April 13th, 2009

coffee, cookie & meThe bold, invigorating, rich and smooth smell of arabica coffee… nothing beats that. This is the thing that my husband and I have the intertwined passion when morning comes.  The smell that soars around the house when the coffee is brewing  is just  a natural lift in my senses.

My thing about coffee started since college days. Not for stress-relieving nor a take in for keeping me awake … I just simply love the smell and taste.  The crisp & clean smell is simply enticing.  On those days though, the robusta coffee is the most common in the market.  I used to be contented with the taste of the latter but when I started taking arabica, I just know the difference.  My palate is satiable with arabica coffee since then.

The difference…is  absolutely big!

Robusta Coffee

quite high in acidity making it a bit sour, high content of caffeine, less flavor, commonly used for instant coffee.

Arabica Coffee

rich, bold, smooth, does not have a sweet nor sour taste, less caffeine

The differences are greatly due to geographic origin although ample & distinguishable,  none are categorized as inferior nor superior.   In fact, the coffee that we pay so much in Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Gloria Jean and other local Coffee shops are using robusta unless they specifically indicate it.  Since they make lattes and they mix coffee with other fancy flavors, the difference is barely noticeable. Some coffee houses specifically indicate the specie of the coffee like Columbian or Kona bean which originate from Columbia and Hawaii respectively. These countries are known producers of arabica coffee.

Brewing my own coffee with molasses cookie of Dancing Deer are one of the best things to slack on and of course perfecting the morning is having my coffee and cookie while watching my favorite show “The View”.  Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar just complete my so called woman’s morning rituals.

So for you- wife, husband, mom or dad,  next time you go in your favorite grocery store… try looking for arabica coffee and … Enjoy!

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“Nuptial” & “Nuptials”… let’s clarify this!

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

nuptials-nuptial

This word is commonly seen in the wedding invitations most especially in the Asian region.  It hurts my eyes though  when a formal  and expensive invitation would commit a vital error.

Let’s  start with the word “Nuptial”… basically an adjective which refers to the marriage ceremony or something that pertains to marriage.  To recall our definition of adjective it simply means a descriptive word.

example:

“Each country practices different nuptial rites.”

“I was touched by the nuptial vow of Carms & Den.”

“I was assigned to light the nuptial candle.”

For the word “Nuptials” … this is consider as a noun which refers to an entity, state or concept.   Nuptials refers to the wedding itself.  So when you opt to use the word ‘wedding’ never follow it with the word  ‘nuptials’ otherwise you’re committing redundancy.  To easily absorb this just remember that ‘wedding’  is replaceable with the word “nuptials’.  This word is commonly seen in the invitations.

example :

“Lirio-Diaz’  Nuptials”

“Luzon-Partoza’s Nuptials”

I hope this confusion is settled… most especially to those brides who personalized their own invitations or for tags of your wedding favors.

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