Because I’m feeling extra today

Marinated baby back ribs. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I just suddenly felt like doing something extra today. That weekend trip back home to see friends lifted my mood that carried over to this week. So far, so good. I will be interviewing a candidate tomorrow and I have three CVs on my file now, all are promising.

I first grilled marinated baby back ribs until they looked cooked on the outside. Then I cooked it on the Instant Pot on High Pressure for 16 mins with a combination of beef broth, ketchup, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce as liquid marinade under the ribs that were placed on a trivet so they won’t be swimming in the marinade.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Et voila! It was tender and yet perfectly glazed on the outside.

This was a bit spicy. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My customers (i.e. the girls and Ate C) consumed it all. With pinakbet as vegetable side dish, this was *chef’s kiss* The thing here is that I didn’t have this for lunch and instead I ate leftover meatballs with home-made gravy. I am limiting red meat intake, if I can help it. My brother is now diabetic, like my two sisters. And my mom. So aside from sugar, I should be watching out for my red meat intake and processed carbohydrates.

I’m also restarting my exercise regimen. I got stalled in October when I got the flu.


Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

This is a light sketch of a scene in my head that keeps playing over and over whenever I hear the song Beauty and Madness by Fra Lippo Lippi. I had been trying to draw this for over 25 years but I couldn’t because I lacked the proper technique. I will try to make this again and again until I get it right.

In my head, the sky is dark with slight illumination from the moon that is sometimes obscured by clouds. A woman is on a cliff overlooking an angry sea. Or an unquiet sea.

I don’t know why I’m stuck with that imagery and it’s forever attached to that song. Maybe I read too many Gothic novels when I was younger.

I had been playing that song by oido for years as well. The chord transcripts I had and the music sheet I have of the song are somehow incomplete.

This transcript, which I got from a tutorial on Youtube, is close to the original piano version.

I wrote the chord transcript by hand. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I should review my major and minor sevens. I keep on forgetting them, unlike other chords, which are now like instinct when I play them on the piano.

This song reflects the struggles of people, in varying degrees. It resonates with me, even way back in high school, as I am drawn to the darkness of the image it painted. But the melody is not dark; it is quite emotional–it’s haunting, like there is this emptiness that you haven’t quite figured out just yet.

Who will see the madness in your life

And who will be there to catch you if you fall?

Still a work in progress. I will let it dry until tomorrow. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

No long weekend 😑

Well, the Lunar New Year fell on a Sunday and the government neglected to declare a non-working holiday… so we had to leave for Manila during lunch time today.

I went out to buy my handmade shampoo bar and dishwashing liquid from the local weekend market. I also bought brunch for me and my twins… Not happy with our food 🙄 I should have stuck with the artisanal breads.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I also bought vegetables to bring with me to QC because I knew I wouldn’t have any time to spare to shop for veggies when I get home.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

By the time we left my mom’s house, the traffic jam was already bad near the hot spring resort areas. This is a sign of what is to come this summer. 🤦‍♀️

Right now, I’m already racking my brain regarding the logistics of moving houses. I will be leaving mid-May and that is the height of traffic jams in this part of the world. I have to do the major move on a week day. If I do it on a weekend, my cargo truck will be stuck on the road for 5 hrs.

Sign of things to come. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We went straight to Mitsukoshi in BGC to check out what’s there. Our main destination is Kinokuniya.

Checking out the manga on display. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The girls got excited by the large selection of manga in Japanese and English.

I think their selection of manga and the number of aisles devoted to it is larger here than in Kinokuniya at Takashimaya in Singapore. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My girls were crestfallen when they saw the price of each manga volume. 😁 So they’re just going to stick readinmg manga online.

As for the stationery… 🥱 That was a big disappointment. It was just the usual Fullybooked fare. I wish Loft or Maruzen would open a branch here.

But I did find a few stationery items outside Kinokuniya x Fullybooked, like Sailor fountain pens and other ink brands. They also carry Travelers Notebook refills but not the leather notebook covers. No Hobonichi as well.

Fountain pen inks. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We checked the accessories section and got stuck there. Well, the girls got stuck because they were overwhelmed with the earrings choices.

The girls choosing their earrings carefully. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com

In the end it was only Twin I who bought earrings with her money in her Maya account. Twin A decided to save her money to prepare for the February Fair in my university hometown because they will be hanging out with their review center friends.

I finally found this umbrella brand. Wohoo! Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I bought my first Waterfront umbrella in Asakusa, Tokyo and I never took it out of my handbags. My current umbrella is almost six years old and is still going strong. It’s small, very lightweight, and yet sturdy. Perfect for sudden rainshowers in the city or when I travel abroad.

I didn’t find Prior by Shiseido in the cosmetics area. *sigh* I can’t even find it online.

We tried the food court but our choice was not a good one (Tenya) and we were not happy… again.

Cheese!

To make up for our disappointment in food and stationery, we went to Fresh, Mitsukoshi’s supermarket.

This time, we were satisfied with what we saw. And bought.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I finally was able to buy: light miso paste (a whole bag weighing 800g!) for less than PhP 200, dashi, bonito flakes, green tea powder, cooking sake, tsuyu for cold soba, and Japanese ramen that are cheaper than what are sold in SM and online.

And beer.

Beer! Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I wanted to buy one for each variant but it will be too heavy to carry to the car.

Because, why not? Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Next time I drop by here, I will take home with me the canned goods and seasonings ❤️ Mitsukoshi Manila is still on soft opening and only a few vendors and brands are still being carried. The food court is not yet SG Takashimaya-level in terms of choices but there is potential given that the department store itself is huge and it has sprawling gross floor space, unlike in Mitsukoshi Taipei where everything is crammed into small shelves, sacrificing the presentation of the merchadise. I don’t remember entering a Mitsukoshi in Tokyo so I can’t compare.

I’ll be cooking Japanese this week. 😁

I need a little trip

Kimchi waiting for me to come home from my mommy errand this morning. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We will be driving tonight to my hometown. I need a change of scenery to ground me and to chase the blues away. To see my BFFs to cheer me up. Perhaps take a little hike to the forested upper campus. I need to let go of things that I cannot control.

I decided to cook hotpot today.

Lots and lots of different mushrooms that I bought from Sarang Mart, meat, tofu and dumplings. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Just letting the main ingredients boil first. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I really need to shake this bad vibes off and clear away the cobwebs. I don’t know what else I should be doing to lift the dark clouds over my head.

A few hours later…

Photo by Twin A.

Remind me to leave much, much later on a Friday night. 🫠

Mission accomplished

It was rainy today. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I finally completed the last curtain panel for the living room of my apartment. All of these, as usual, are done by hand (no sewing machine whatsoever). I like to create things with my hands. I made these panels much longer so it can also be used in my tiny house, which has larger windows. I was shifting between finishing the curtains and drawing bookmarks for a few days now so that my mind and hands are occupied.

I like that the living room looks warmer and homey. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The grandma aesthetic (floral curtains) has softened the industrial look of this apartment’s French windows, with all the grills and aluminum screen frame. Once the floral curtains are juxtaposed with the hard clean lines of the black window frames, the pendant lights, and cabinetry of my new home, my home will feel cozier and not very stark in its newness. I will soften the look further with floral throw pillows, art, and books. Lots of art and books.

The grey sofa here is still functional but its upholstery is butt-ugly now because of the cat scratches. I will have it reupholstered in emerald green or chintz and transfer it to my mom’s house because it’s too big for my own house. The red divan will also be reupholstered and be given to my brother and sister-in-law for their gaming room/den because it fits in the nook under the stairs.

Now that I’m done with these floral gina curtains, I proceeded to re-work the muslin curtains and lengthen them for the girls’ room in my house. So of course, my cats want to join.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Another mission accomplished: buying Twin I’s spicy Korean fried chicken from Jjang Kkae. It was rainy and it was so cozy just staying at home but I had to drag my ass our of the house to buy this and some banchan. I also bought a variety of mushrooms for hotpot that i will cook some time this week.

Yum. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I just want to stay in bed all day tomorrow. 🙃 Or draw.

I don’t want to work and be an adult tomorrow.

Food and art

I got tired of doing long distance driving every week so I decided to just stay at home today. I’m a simple person and my weekend would have just been equally enjoyable with home cooking and drawing.

And as I promised Twin I, I made bibimbap for brunch. Just as well because I’m trying to get rid of week-old vegetables and left-over beef tapa. I cooked the beef sukiyaki á la gyudon as part of the bibimbap.

And I made the gojuchang-based sauce that I copied from My Korean Kitchen. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My kids don’t like raw or half-cooked eggs so I just made runny sunny side-up. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My girls approved. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Then we had the charcuterie board delivered this afternoon so we just grazed until evening. The brie cheese quickly disappeared.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Too bad I no longer have wine at home to go with this because I gave my last bottle to my landlady as Christmas gift. But then it’s easy to go to Uno Cinquenta to drink at Cava wine bar, which I did two weeks ago with a friend. I usually go with QC-based friends in Cava to have craft beer there.

My kids are easy to please so as long they have food, they’re fine. They know mommy is tired. After a late afternoon nap, I started drawing again because I suddenly felt my mojo coming back.

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
The infamous tree in my hometown, the Fertility Tree. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Sketch on a tiny board. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Was thinking of Winnie the Pooh’s tree. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

Making bookmarks is a good way to practice instead of laboring over my sketch pad. I think I’m having an artist’s block because I am terrified of scale. I even find it difficult to finish a 5×7 sketch or watercolor painting because there’s this internal pressure that it has to be good when I’m barely there yet. This is what happens when you let your skills get buried for 25 years. It lay dormant for so long and now I’m starting from scratch. If only I continued with this non-stop from high school, maybe I would be really good by now.

But then, can I have two art forms at the same time? Something’s got to give and writing is my bread and butter so I have to master it. Life also got in the way.

Oh well.

I need to complete my Holbein half-pans before I leave QC for good. I will miss Art Whale, which is just a bike ride away from my apartment.

Queen of procrastination 2

I was stuck. It took me a while but I started chipping away at the things I must do to get through this week. I’m almost done…

To get back my mojo and extricate myself from this rut, I started making bookmarks.

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
With gold flecks. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
I couldn’t resist lining it with my sepia Copic marker after I signed it. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Chinese style braised beef. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I bought various beef cuts to vary our menu for this week. I’m now slow cooking this Chinese style braised beef for 10 hrs. On Saturday I plan to make bibimbap (with sukiyaki cut beef) because my daughters started liking it. Yes, with gochuchang-based bibimbap sauce.

I’m cheering myself up today by cooking and painting because I’m PHP 52k poorer. I picked up my car from Ishimoto this afternoon and it felt like I was hit by a football on my diaphragm (you have no idea how painful it is to be winded out by a flying football). That amount is already equivalent to my trip to Seoul. 😑

But then, my car is running smoothly now, better than ever. The diesel mechanic said he overhauled my engine fuel system. He saw that my engine’s settings were high so he brought it down to standard levels. No wonder fuel consumption was so bad. He replaced a lot of parts because they were broken since gunk corrodes fuel injectors, etc.

Why the gunk? Well, he said that I may have unknowingly loaded my car with diesel from fuel stations that are prone to flooding. Flood = fuel contamination. That causes gunk, destroys your engine’s fuel system.

Now I have zero black smoke. The mechanic said my engine feels like it’s good as new.

True.

He also said my car’s engine is very dependable that’s why it’s still running well despite the age. CRDi diesel engines today are not as tough and long-lasting as the one that I have, which is a turbo diesel (TDI). CRDi, however, are more fuel efficient than TDI.

But basically, diesel engines last longer than gasoline counterparts, whether CRDi or TDI, because there is less wear. Diesel is a slow burning fuel; the acceleration is slower but that keeps the engine from wearing down quickly. These are engines for hauling and for long distance drives–things that I use my car for.