My 10-hr bulalo was a success. We love how tender the beef is and it melts in your mouth. The potatoes absorbed all the flavors and the soup alone is enough to be your meal. Drown your rice with the soup and you’re good. ❤️ This is so sinful that I will only cook it once in a while. I think I can make a beef bowl noodle with this next time. I kept adding seasonings throughout the night so that the flavors will not disappear with the heat.
While I did that, I was trying to make sense of my landscape sketch.
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Since this was requested by Twin A, I will put this in their room.
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
I think I need to start doing charcoals again and build my charcoal pencil collection from scratch. In the meantime, I can make do with my multiple mechanical pencils and the ordinary Mongol ones that I have with me.
I’m so sleepy now as I slept around past 4 am, woke up at 7, slept again and woke up at 10 am. I think I need to turn in earlier tonight. Need to fix my body clock. 🥱
While waiting for inspiration to strike me to finish that Sombrero island watercolor, I went back to one of my meditative hobbies—cooking. So we took the slow cooker out of hibernation and the beef shanks from my freezer drawer.
As a true-blue Batangueña, cooking bulalo—which is basically beef stew—should just be a cinch for me. I just need to have a lot of patience. And a Crockpot. Or an Instapot.
First thing I did is I blanched the beef shanks. While I the meat broth was boiling, I skimmed off the scum floating around. When the surface began to clear, I boiled it for a few minutes more and I threw out the water and washed the beef under cold water to clean it. It should be free of blood and other impurities to produce a clear broth.
I washed the pot so the new broth will not be contaminated with impurities.
Blanched beef shanks. Photo by CallMeCreation.comPut the blanched beef shanks into new boiling water. It should be clear. Photo by CallMeCreation.comPut beef bullion, salt or fish sauce then boil the meat again. This time the broth produced should be clear. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
After boiling for a few minutes, I transferred everything to the slow cooker with red onions, leeks, and potatoes. If you have corn, put that in. I will add more green leafy vegetables tomorrow plus some green beans.
Cook this for 8 hours under low heat or so until the meat falls off the bones and the marrow melts/disappears or whatever. Traditionally, this is cooked in a clay pot for four hours but during fiestas, we cook bulalo in a large iron pot over firewood.
My Crockpot is on its last legs and I should a) replace it with another Crockpot or b) buy an Instapot for the pressure cooker function and yogurt-making function. Crockpot is easy on the electricity bill because it only consumes as much energy as an incandescent bulb whereas Instapot consumes 1000 watts. However, it can make a lot of things, among them is yogurt. We love Greek yogurt.
I should hold off for now.
I’m still waiting for inspiration to strike me. Maybe in a few hours? Tomorrow? I’m not in a mood to mix colors right now. I wonder how freelance artists manage to finish commissioned art work 🤔 Writing is similar but oftentimes I can produce stories even when I’m sick or at the bottom of the barrel because there’s a formula to spot stories. Long-form though is a tougher one; even if you bleed me dry I cannot produce that kind of article when I’m not in the zone.
In the meantime, I will scroll through IG for inspiration.
If there’s a larger than life I personality I want to be friends with, it would be Karl Lagerfeld or Rajiv Surendra.
Karl’s life is interesting—not because of money that came with his life but it doesn’t hurt, no?—but he lived beautifully and he chased intellectualism not just for the sake of it but because he was very curious. Of course he was sort of a snob and he was raised by a ruthless mother but for some reason he loved her dearly. From his stories (published in Vogue and other interviews), his mother sounds like Elton John’s mother (gleaned from the movie Rocketman).
Anyway, I remember one article in Vogue (when I was still a devoted reader) that he spoke several languages and read in French, German, and English. He loved books. He was one of the biggest bibliophiles there is. He collected books and read them all. He was interested in so many things, especially history. His library is one of my dream libraries and I could happily pass my days in there. We can talk about politics, history, philosophy, art—so many things—over tea and biscuits (he eliminated sweets from his diet).
I also remember his love for wearing Hedi Slimane suits. There was an article in Vogue where he discussed his weariness of flying/airports post 9/11 (how strictly insane and tedious flying became right after 9/11) so he had outfitted several SUVs to be luxurious cabins so he can cross countries in Europe without having to suffer the indignities of stripping your clothes/shoes just authorities can scan you for possible deadly weapons or bombs.
I wish I have his discipline of sketching all the time. He wanted to be a cartoonist, not a fashion designer at first. He figured he could make a better living out of sketching clothes.
I could feel his frustration of wanting to play the piano but this desire to learn it was stamped out by his incorrigible mother. I figured those who leaned towards the arts sometimes find themselves drawn to other art forms as a way to express themselves.
Hmm, the two persons I mentioned above have another thing in common: they’re both gay. I’m good friends with gay men and as I told one gay man in Singapore, I am a fairy princess. I like the company of gay men because they’re interesting and they like my friendship. I had been to gay bars in Manila with K and his friends are fun to be with; we were dancing on the ledge of a bar until the wee hours (this was before I got married).
hand-stitching again. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I’m back to sewing again as a form of procrastination. I can’t finish the poppy sketch yet since it’s complicated for my bleeding brain (I just finished an article today). I think the curtain panels will be up in the girls’ room by the end of this week.
I’m also teaching a colleague how to survive the China lockdown because he doesn’t know how to cook. His initial lockdowns were in Kuala Lumpur and he was privileged enough not to worry about supplies when he was there. I told him to grab lots of Indomee instant noodles (he’s Chinese Malaysian) and do this:
Lucky Me Pancit Canton by Monde Nissin. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Teaching him what to buy and what to do with them. Gah! I wonder how these people survive all these years by just eating out.
Screenshot from NIkkei Asia
This zero-Covid policy of China has seen a lot of businesses wanting to flee HK. My former APAC boss is now in Manila to escape the draconian policies of HK and give her toddlers a respite from being locked up indoors.
In contrast, Singapore is now allowing people to be maskless if outdoors. My friend-colleague said it’s such a relief especially if she’s taking her walks for her daily exercise. Our new APAC head, who’s based in Seoul, said most people there have been getting Covid that it doesn’t make sense to control movement. So the rest of the world has adopted the living-with-Covid policy and is now opening up borders.
I’m raring to go to the sea.
Maricaban, Batangas. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This photo was taken when we took the boat from Eagle Point Resort to Maricaban island. The diving was not good but the winds were violent in Sombrero island so we were taken here. Some of these boats took novice scuba divers where we were freediving.
I’m kinda stupid. I’ve been driving all over Metro Manila chasing the instruments I needed for my new obsession when Art Whale is just right at my doorstep. I didn’t have to drive to Manila, Makati, or even to Q. Ave just to get the right brushes and individual half pans of artist grade watercolors. It’s just right there—a bike ride away.
They have stuff for caligraphy. Photo by CallMeCreation.comAcrylics and oils. Photo by CallMeCreation.comBrushes! Photo by CallMeCreation.comLovely Holbein travel kit. Photo by CallMeCreation.comMy next target. Photo by CallMeCreation.comMy purchases. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I finally found that elusive #000 brush that is 10x better than my current one from Scriva. I could barely make lines with the Scriva #000 (the hairs are all falling apart) while this da Vinci is right on the money. And it’s only PHP 75. They carry Escoda (the very expensive kind) and Princeton brushes but da Vinci is fine with me.
I was also able to buy the Holbein Jaune Brilliant which has been in my Shopee cart. I can finally quit mixing my own colors for skin, which always turn out yellowish (that’s why in my sketches the people there look like they have Hepatitis).
I’m not happy with the single Winsor & Newton Cotman pan I bought; it’s quite chalky and it needs a lot of water and dipping before I could get the color. I found that I’m quite happy with Tokyo Finds Bento Picasso Pro and I’ll just fill it with Holbein colors now that I know where to buy these elusive things. Bento Picasso Pro have brilliant colors and enough transparency and can easily be reactivated with water, I can even reactivate the blots of colors on my pans that have dried up and use them up again.
When it comes to paper, they only have Strathmore in the “affordable”/non-professional line, which is quite pricey. So I can buy the 300 gsm papers from Art Bar (Cansons, MontMarte) and Tokyo Finds from Shopee Mall.
They have good brands for other medium (oil, acrylics, gouache) but they’re the higher end ones.
Here’s to my art therapy. It has been 15 months but I’m getting there. I have setbacks but I will get there eventually.
The girls are with their dad so I have solo time today. I went all Japanese today again for my dinner after discovering the Kewpie sesame soy sauce for that is perfect for shredded napa cabbage.
Dinner. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I had tuna sashimi (surface pan seared a bit) with the last of my wasabi paste, omurice (the rice I seasoned for sushi), shredded napa cabbage with sesame soy sauce, and tonkatsu ramen. It’s too much for dinner but I didn’t have lunch and barely had breakfast today so it’s kinda ok. I’ll just have to walk off the calories tomorrow. Save for the trip to Art Whale and grocery shopping at Puregold tonight, I didn’t do anything much but sleep.
Let’s see what I can create tonight.
Two of my botanicals have been reserved by my bff L so I’ve touched them up before I would give them. So I was able to make room in my two frames for one botanical and for the Himeji Castle Garden.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me but it seems like I got my dates mixed up. The TV interview is not on the 21st but tomorrow morning! La idiota!
I have checked the broadcast rundown but it’s difficult to express myself in pure Taglaog when talking about media literacy, echo chambers, propaganda, and grass roots communication. I tend to code-switch on topics like this, especially that I used to talk about this in the classroom and the medium of instruction is English. When I give communication trainings and seminars, they were always in English. I know I’m bad but I find it hard to explain abstract topics like this in my own native language (*face palm*).
I better prepare notes/talking points in Tagalog or else I might get carried away explaining in English.
I took it easy today because I was only able to sleep at past 4 am today. Too much milktea maybe. Ever since caffeine was cut off from me by my shrink (because of alprazolam), I had become more sensitive to caffeine, even just from a simple milktea drink.
Anyway, I grilled some skewered pork in barbecue sauce for lunch. Just because.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
And my intention to be a good girl today flew out the window because I wasn’t able to go to UP and exercise and buy vegetables. I slept instead.
OK, I promise to wake up early tomorrow and work out indoors. *Really*
I was waxing the wooden floor of my bedroom when Twin I offered to take over and do it for me. My children are nice. I must be doing something good.
Ate C and I had been training them to do chores and they earn like 5 pesos for each. By the end of they week they have at least PHP 200 that they use to buy whatever. Twin I often buys milk tea while Twin A buys crafting stuff on Shopee. They hate doing the dishes but that’s the most number of chores they can do every week. They also carry shopping bags and put away groceries when I do my weekly shopping. Folding laundry and putting them away in closets. There are other chores that Ate C makes them do.
This is good training for them because when we transfer to my hometown, we won’t have any housekeeper anymore. Laundry would be done by each person. If you don’t do your own laundry, you won’t have anything to wear. I’ll just hire a weekly cleaner for general cleaning but it for the rest of the week would be “clean-as-you-go” style. Same with the ironing, I’ll just hire somebody to do the ironing for their school uniforms. Their mess would be confined to their room and it’s up to them if they want to live in a pigsty or not. As for the bathroom, I had always been cleaning the bathroom twice or thrice a week while I take a shower. For the cooking, I can batch cook or I’ll hire my mom’s cook to do it on a weekend and freeze them for the week.
That’s how we did it when our last stay-in housekeeper left when we were growing up. When I was in high school, we did our own laundry and we mostly kept our messes confined in our rooms. It’s only the public spaces that needed regular upkeep. We had a cook though because as I said before, cooking is not my mom’s thing.
This is why I chose to have a small unit (the size of a two-bedroom condo in Manila) so cleaning would be easier.
Updated.Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
I had to completely dry the first layer and came back to this watercolor to do the second layer. The third layer should make the water grey and that should also fix hat awkward part above where it looked like a whale barfed on the water. The problem was I wasn’t able to mix the colors well. In my attempt to mimic impressionism, I ended up muddying the image (*face palm*). I will try to resurrect this on my third layer. I was attempting this technique below. I guess I’m really la idiota. I should have not completely covered the yellow with blue. It should have been in between and not over.
San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight.Heritage Images / Getty Images
I’ve always been drawn to Impressionists because there’s always something ethereal about their works. Juan Luna’s and Felix Hidalgo’s works are along the same lines that’s why they were the ones I remembered at the National Museum.
Anyway, a drawing a day helps me improve. I need to go to museums because my creativity is drying up.
I have cut some of my 300 gsm water color papers so I can concentrate on post-card sized drawings so I can attempt botanicals. When I was in Shanghai in 2003, I spent an entire afternoon looking and studying Chinese scroll paintings. It was the same thing I did in Taiwan in 2016.
Chinese scroll painting at the National Palace Museum, Tapei, Taiwan. October 2016. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Let’s see what I can come up with.
Update. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.comWell, ok. Not bad but messy. Art and phooto by CallMeCreation.com
This short animation is simple to the point that it’s already cliche but it strikes the heart. It reminds me of why I keep cooking for my loved ones even though somebody else could do that for us. Because you know, home-cooked meals remind you of your mom, of home, of comfort, of love…My mom was a terrible cook (she’s really more of a scientist) but she tried her best. It’s the meal shared with her that counts. I want my girls to remember me by the food that I cook for them—the taste of home. My food will always draw them back home wherever they will end up when they fly the coop. I cooked for J, to remind him that he had a home with me…but he threw that away. Oh well. *shrug* I sent home cooked meals to K’s condo because his family is in the US. He posted on FB one time that he loved my food and it reminded him of his mother. I cooked for my friends and cousin here at home or I send them my food when they’re sick.
Food cooked at home is not just food. It’s love in a pot. Mothers, especially single mothers, do their very best despite the tiredness of raising children alone. I hope it’s not too late for children to say their appreciation to their moms before they’re gone.
I couldn’t contain myself so I drove to Katipunan, went to Fullybooked and bought the other Tokyo Finds artist-grade watercolor palette.
The Artisan set. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Then I tried to squeeze each pan in one tin tray so I would only be carrying one when I do my urban sketching.
Tadaah! Photo by CallMeCreation.comAnd I’ve made color swatches because the original color chart that came with the palette was not accurate.
I can buy empty half-pans from Lazada and put them all in the second almost empty palette tray and I will be buying—sloooowly buying—more expensive half-pans or tubes that I could squeeze the contents of in the empty pans for more saturated colors. The difference of the artist grade pans from the student grade paint box that I first bought is that the former has more saturated colors and is “cakey” compared to the latter. I’ll save money for the artist grade Winsor and Newton. Its field box version is already almost PhP 5,000
Same with Daniel Smith.
In the meantime, I’ll practice some more using this Tokyo Finds Bento Picasso artist grade until I get better. Well, my earlier watercolor drawings were just created using Pentel watercolor tubes and they haven’t faded yet. I think I can live with with Tokyo Finds and Sakura Koi.
I finally adjusted the colors on this watercolor drawing. I think I’m already satisfied with this one.
Updated.Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Then I decided to play truant today instead of finishing my articles so I made another one.
Art and Photo by CallMeCreation.comStill very wet. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.comTakipsilim sa UP Diliman. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Broadcast City tower here looks odd. Hahaha! I’m still debating whether I should add tiny humans but I may just destroy it. Maybe tomorrow I’ll layer this.
I need to practice everyday. On Thursday I’ll be sitting in UCC almost all day so I can do this while I write and edit in between.
I’ve spent this month’s budget for plants…they became watercolors. Oh well. All for my mental health/self-love.
