Green Day

Today is St. Paddy's Day or St. Pattie's Day or as the Irish call it Lá Fhéile Pádraig. And it's a big holiday here in MA because this state is majorly Irish. Everyone's wearing green and drinking Guinness or maybe a bottle of Sam Adams in between. The Boston Celtics are wearing their gold and green uniform and people are just a little crazier today than most days. Shamrocks everywhere and leprechaun hats are in fashion. Simply because

I was wearing my green hoodie around the house and playing the latest U2 album as my own little way of celebrating with them Irish lads. We also had our Irish beer battered fish and chips last night.

It's a good holiday. I wish we had something like this back home. It's so festive and mischievous. Just like this cute little care bear "greening" the Chicago river every year on this day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day me lads.

I Want: Concerts

One of the perks of living in the US is this: Concert Tours! Recording artists (both local and foreign) are performing their hits at any given time or place in this first world country. Be it at a big arena or a park or at a local House of Blues. Unlike in Manila where a big concert comes up twice or thrice or if we're lucky 5 times a year. A lot of big names in the music business don't want to perform in a third world country because they fear for their lives, which may be taken (as the stigma goes) by kidnappers from the mountains or by an unknown disease that originated from the monkeys they think are running amok the unpaved streets. Ugh. They don't realize that Manila is urbanized and that Filipinos are music lovers who will do anything and spend anything just to see them live. And that everyone there probably has a copy of their album (from a record store or from the www or from random stalls that sell pirated CDs) and that their chords are published in a song hits magazine (do song hits still exist by the way?).

They also don't know that many Filipinos are so image conscious they will do anything to up their social status. They are perennially conscious about the brands they wear or the places they go to, like the hippest concert for example. But let's not get into that. It just reminds me of an old classmate who's so superficial, he makes me groan and wince with pain when I hear about his shallow social climbing expeditions.

The concerts. Yes. My head is spinning from all the concert tours happening near us. I want to watch them all but the tickets are pretty expensive. So we have to decide which ones to watch and we have to make an uber wise decision.

We already missed Bloc Party at the House of Blues in Boston. huhu. But it's okay cause like I said sometime in the near future they're bound to perform again.

Here's a list of some of the concerts/ shows I want to catch. There are more shows in NYC but I'm limiting my drool list to our area. More realistic that way.

Lily Allen
House of Blues
Boston, MA
04.19.2009

Kings of Leon
Agganis Arena, Boston
04.19.2009

The Killers
Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
05.09.2009

Dave Matthews Spring 2009 Tour
Fenway Park, Boston MA
05.29-30. 2009

COLDPLAY Viva La Vida Tour
Comcast Center, Mansfield MA
08.03.2009

U2 360 Tour
Gilette Stadium, Boston MA
09.20.2009

We're definitely waiting for the U2 concert to start selling tickets online since these guys are just stellar. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch them. We'll have plenty of chances to catch the other bands on this list be it here or elsewhere. But U2 is simply a must. I heard that there are negotiations for a U2 concert in Manila. Hopefully they make it happen. The Filipinos have been waiting for them since Sunday Bloody Sunday.

If I only had a lot of extra money to spend around, I'd watch them all and I could complete my list of bands to watch before I die. Maybe they'll have recession rate tickets!! That would be an awesome way to spread the love and the music.

Also I have another list of bands to watch before I age. But that's another story for another post.

On a side note:
Notice how I'm a big fan of British Rock. I like most things British actually. I also love this guy. He's hilarious.


No he's not Jack Sparrow of the Pirates of the Caribbean. He's Russell Brand, a British comedian and host. You might recognize him from Forgetting Sarah Marshall too. He's just brill. I wouldn't mind catching one of his shows. He's kind of a gothic comic. Brit humor is just my kind of comedy. Witty Britty.

I am now on Twitter

So I am now on twitter. Wanted to see what all the fuss is about (check my sidebar). It's a lot like plurk which I have been extremely addicted to. But what I love about twitter is it brings me news and tidbits from the most interesting people from celebrities to politicians to talk show hosts to musicians and of course the few friends I found tweeting. I started last night. And so far I am following 24 people including:

CNN news
Lindsay Lohan
The New York Times
Barack Obama
Stephen Colbert
Sarah Bareilles
Joel Ramos
Sec. of State Hillary Clinton
Jimmy Kimmel
Tina Fey
Jengsterr Legaspi
Anderson Cooper
The Ellen Degeneres Show
Dave J Matthews
Britney Spears
P Diddy
Coldplay
Ashton Kutcher
Maluh Silvano
John Mayer
Martha Stewart
My sister
wandermonkey
beachbun
Cosmopolitan.com

So I follow so many people but only 2 follow me. One is Joel Ramos and check out who the other one is.

Yes, the President of the United States is following me as I am following him. I think it's an automatic thing though... still it makes me feel important hahaha :)

I love twitter. Though I'm not sure how long I can keep up and maintain everything I have going on for me in the cyberworld. I have this, I have Wordpress, I have Multiply, Facebook, Friendster, my long forgranted Myspace, Plurk and a couple of email accounts. Plus, I am following a myriad of blogs and I also have my daily lifestyle reads online. I'm gonna try to keep everything updated but so far my fave is plurk because my friends in Manila are always online and we get to chat everyday, more than we used to back home (come to think of it).

Follow me on twitter! Though i have nothing fancy to talk about like them celebrities.

P.S. Diddy is constantly posting. You may want to add him up.

The Rookie Wife Recipes

I have never been good at home economics. I remember back in grade school (Ms. Glenda’s class) I was always the person doing everything but the cooking. Always the tablesetter, never the chef. And I was lousy at sewing and making those stupid figurines from old moldy bread (what was that all about? like we would ever display such hideous creations) . That was until I moved here. Back home when I got hungry I had Mommy, the Queen of the Kitchen or Jean our maid who loved buying me merienda from far flung tindahans so she can meet boys. Here I have no Mommy, no Jean and no 8-MCDO to the rescue. I have to fend for myself and learn my way around the stove. Good thing my mom sent me off with a steno notebook filled with recipes for me to try and my sister didn’t mind me turning her kitchen into a (say it like Dexter) labo-ratory. Now that I’m married (half a year already yey!) I have my very own kitchen for my stovetop experiments. It’s been smooth so far except for a couple of disastrous explosions. One was a pot lid. Another was an egg in the microwave. I still wince at the thought. All I can say is do not microwave an egg in a cup filled with water unless you want a gooey mess. I thought it was a brilliant way to make hardboiled eggs until it exploded in my face. Ngwek ngwek ngwek. Greatness is seldom achieved through shortcuts.

Chevy has been very helpful in my culinary education too. He helps around and cooks on my nights off. More importantly, he knows how to compliment the chef and how to finish everything off the serving plate to avoid the chef turning into a female Gordon Ramsay. A little something he learned over time.

Most of what I’ve cooked are downloaded recipes or recipes I’ve learned from other people or my friends at the Food Network. Some of my copycat creations are so-so while some are good enough for seconds. And I want to share what I’ve tried so far with those people who have shared so much cooking tips with me in the past and in my own little way I want to inspire those people who think they are all thumbs in the kitchen. If I can do it, so can you. Say it with me. Yes we can….cook.

I will be putting up recipes of The Edible Ones in my Rookie Wife Recipes page in Multiply. If you don’t see any updates it means I haven’t tried anything new or worse, my experiment has gone terribly wrong. Or I have no time balancing my roles as housewife and gamer-for-life. Most likely it will be the latter.

The Rookie Wife Recipes. Do try this at home but have the delivery number ready just in case ;-)

Buon appetito and Happy Cooking!

First Vday

A year ago I wrote an entry about how every year, my Valentine's Day has been alternately bitter and sweet. See Bitterweet Valentine Flashback. And as predicted, this year it has been real sweet. As I had hoped in my post, I spent it with Chevy and with a new last name.

We're not into the whole celebrating on Feb 14 but since it was our first heart's day as husband and wife we just had to do by tradition.

It started out as a regular oh-so-domesticated day. Woke up unbelievably early (7am!) and had brunch at Wendy's (so romantic) near the supermarket then we did our groceries and spent our early afternoon sorting out the house and the kitchen as we always do during weekends. Then Chev played his strat games while I played Jeopardy on PS3. Then we played against each other and I played online and lost to a dork who had all the answers memorized. We also had some cake, my fave red velvet with cream cheese icing. Then I cooked my valentino a dinner that was so Buon Apetito Italiano.

Menu:
Sote di Vongole or clam saute for appetizer
Shrimp and Scallop Scampi over fettuccine
Side of bruschetta (with tomato and mozzarella)

and for dessert: chocolate covered strawberries.

We also had some sparkling wine which I discovered really didn't go well with the dessert. We should have gotten port or rose. But wine is wine and I drank a lot of it. Then we curled up on the couch and watched NBA All Star weekend and a bunch of late night shows that we Tivoed.

Chev got me flowers and a box of Rocky Mountain chocolate (drool). And then he complained about the flowers because they sent me the wrong colors and the flowershop sent me a new bouquet a week after so I got 2! Suhweet. I got Chevy a card which showed a couple lugging around a giant hamper after doing laundry. It was so US. And our Vday celebration was so US. We're domesticated fastfood munching gamers with a flare for romance, experimental dinners, Italian food and wine + nightcaps of NBA or tivoed shows :)

Cheers to my sweet valentine in 09 and to more simple happy romantic days like this. Hope next year won't be bitter.

red velvet cake...mmmm...

Sote di Vongole

bruschetta

Shrimp and Scallop Scampi over Fettuccine

my second bouquet with the right colors

table for two

50 Questions

i have received so many of these surveys but i only respond to a few. got this from facebook. and since i have time, tada!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
nope. my sister kept pronouncing "marie" as maya and the name stuck. she was 3.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
sunday. while watching jennifer hudson all teary eyed at the grammy's

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
sometimes. i like my print more than my cursive

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
bacon. does spam count?

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
nada

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
of course :)

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
yep. but not as often as i used to

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
yes. i don't want to part with them

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
yes...but only if i knew the world would end soon or if someone paid me a lot of money to do so

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
in manila that would be nestle koko krunch and fitness with fruit. here, frosted flakes.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
nope. hahaha

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
coffee, vanilla bean

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
hair

15. RED OR PINK?
red. reminds me of autumn and ferrari cars

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
my voice. people don't take me seriously sometimes because of my child voice

17. WHOM DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
my family. all of them

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
if they feel like it and if they have the time why not. but i won't hold it against them

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
chevy's boxers. barefoot.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
the humming of the fridge + oh it is love by hellogoodbye

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
atomic tangerine. lol

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
library books, chevy's pits :P babies, coffee, spa scents

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
leila. coworker from NYC

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU
meme? love her...and miss her :)

26. FAVORITE SPORT?
i'm not sporty but i do love watching basketball and football. i wanna play tennis again though

27. HAIR COLOR?
right now black but might dye it brown soon (or perhaps atomic tangerine)

28. EYE COLOR?
the guy at the DMV said i had brown eyes

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
when i go out. at home i just wear my glasses

30 FAVORITE FOOD?
pizza, pad thai, paella, anything that starts with p. except pizza with pineapples

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
scary movies with happy endings

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
coraline. in 3d

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING
royal blue

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
fall.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
a squeeze + a "granny" kiss on the cheek

36. FAVORITE DESSERT
cheesecake. anything red velvet

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
i dunno. everyone's busy. al jean (i hope)

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
kytes navarro-de laza

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
non-fiction. get clients now by cj hayden

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
the cordless phone

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
heroes and obama's press conference

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)
ambulance sirens. kidding. the ocean, baby coos, laughter

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
beatles forever

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
europe

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
i can make my nostrils flare to the beat of any song.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
kytes navarro-de laza's. kruschev's (i would throw a party if they answer)

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
through a blind date set up by friends.

49. DO YOU STRIVE FOR HAPPINESS OR ENJOY THE DARK SIDE?
pursuit of happiness!! i've spent too many days enjoying the dark side

50. ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE YOU?
restless

if you feel like answering these 50 questions, copy and repost in your blog :) it's fun. i want more...

Let It Snow

Snowstorm last weekend. The people at the weather channel made it sound so dreadful. Storm will hit around 3pm Friday and it will snow nonstop until Sunday and we're all going to be buried alive. Of course they didn't say that but that was the message that I got.

We prepared for the storm. Bought tons of food and water and flashlights like what we do in the Philippines when there's a storm. Also because half of New Hampshire has no power after being hit by an ice storm (the trees grew icicles) and we were afraid it might happen here. We bought a ton of meat and then I realized that if the power goes out the meat will go bad. Then again we can always put it in the snow right. So we still stocked up on that.

And we waited and waited. Some people didn't want it to arrive. I on the other hand was soooo excited because it was going to be my first snow storm. My first snowfall actually since the snow I saw in NYC was just flurries (but I was so psyched about that too and nearly cried but of course I tried to look cool and not get emotional in front of them savvy city folks).

Friday saw me constantly checking for snow outside my window.

And when it finally started snowing I was out the door in multiple layers of clothing catching snowflakes with my tongue. So beautiful.

prancing around in the snow

my name in snow

that's me making snowangels

chevy with our snowman/ snowhead

everything's white


I love it. Even though it feels like a thousand pins when you're trying to thaw yourself in front of the heater. I love it more than wind chill and rain :)