Gone for 2 Days

Hubby and i are going to Palomar Mountain for a 2-Day camping in Doane Camp Site. Will be back this weekend and answer all your messages.

~xoxo~

Bouquet Garni

With French cooking, a lot of their recipe have Bouquet Garni. You may want to know what this word is this is the French word for "Garnished Bouquet". Here are the ingredients you need to combined to create your Bouquet Garni.


1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
4 large sprigs parsley (including stalks)
10 cm (4 inch) piece celery stalked with leaves
two 10 cm (4 inch) pieces leek (green part)

Bouquet

Place the bay leaf, thyme, parsley and celery on one piece of green leek. Cover with the remaining piece of green leek. Tie securely with fine string, leaving a length of string attached so that the bouquet garni can be easily retrieved.

Chicken with Mushrooms

CHICKEN WITH MUSHROOM (French Cuisine)
Makes 4 Servings

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
4 Chicken Quarters
12 Oz. Chestnut, Oyster, Shiitake or Chanterelle mushrooms, or a mixture
1 Onion Finely Chopped
¾ Cup Vouray or similar fruity, Medium-Dry White Wine
2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Tarragon Leaves
½ Cup Regular Plain Yogurt
TT Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
Garnish Tarragon Sprigs

PROCEDURE:
* Heat oil and butter in a heavy Dutch over add chicken and cook until browned.
* Remove in a slotted spoon.
* Preheat oven to 325F (165C). Cut large mushrooms into quarters and oyster mushrooms into * 1-inch strips.
* Add to pan with onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until soft.
* Stir in wine and bring to a boil. Return chicken to pan and sprinkle with tarragon.
* Cover tightly and cook in the over 1 hour.
* Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken and vegetables to a warmed plate and keep warm.
* Boil cooking liquid to thicken slightly.
* Stir in yogurt and reheat gently without boiling.
* Season with salt and pepper.
* Return chicken and vegetables to pan, turn in sauce and heat gently to warm through.
* Garnish with tarragon sprigs and serve.

Cooking Process

Chicken after putting all the ingredients and before putting in the oven.

Chicken After an hour in the oven.

Plate Presentations

Camping Dinner

Hot Dogs and Buns is what we had for Dinner last Saturday. We spent most of our time in South Carlsbad, CA camp site. Relaxing by the beach and getting away from a very busy street.

I would like to share to you some images of the dinner we had at the camp site.

Today's Meal

I am thinking to go to the store today and buy something for dinner. I am not a big breakfast and lunch person unless I have company at home. So, I usually have light breakfast such as milk alone or just eeg sandwhich. For lunch, I sometimes don't eat anything and sometimes just had pasta.

I have to make dinner and tried to cook as often as I can because hubby and I eat dinner together.

Okey... right now I am going to make a list for my grocery for this afternoon.

Soups and Salad

Is what I can think of a name for my newly created blog. I will be updating different kind of topics that are related to food, travel and other interesting things to write.

Bolsa Chica Reserve

June 7, 2008

After the Duathlon event in Huntington Beach, CA hubby, mingming and I was going to walk around the beach, so our mingming on the leash was ready to go.  It was around 0930 or 1000 in the morning.  When we were walking at about a few meters in the sandy beach one woman told us that there was a sign said "No Dogs Allowed" she also said that "Because it's a cat maybe it's okay".  We were talking with the woman for a few minutes. When we had a few steps forward the lifeguard came out from his nest.  He shouted, "No Dogs Allowed," including the woman we we all shouted back "It's a Cat!!" again... he shouted, "No Dogs Allowed".  We thought that he didn't heard us, so we all shouted back the same thing "It's a Cat."  The third time we were trading the same message, some people in the beach under the umbrella joined us to let him know that it's not a dog and it's a cat on the leash. 

Finally, he shouted "That one too is not allowed in the sand". He also said, "No animals allowed in the sand".

Well I guess our teased worked out very well.  I think that young man ran out of what he gonna say.

Later, we decided to drove by Bolsa Chica Reserve outside the beach.  Michael and I walked around the ground while our mingming was relaxing inside the car.

Here are some pictures we took.

 

Seafood City in Mira Mesa, CA

'I have to drive' Even though I am very nervous just thinking about driving in the freeway of San Diego, I need to get out the apartment. I don't want to be stuck in the apartment for days and really nothing much do but surf the net after doing my household chores. I finally used my husband's birthday present to me "Nuvi Garmin GPS". This really very helpful getting around new places and roads.

I went to Seafood City Grocery Store to buy something to cook for dinner. I bought fish and asked the attendant to fry them. I also had 1 fresh and cleaned fish for me to cook paksiw at home. I bought a few vegetables and fruits as well.

Good thing the road wasn't that busy. I was hoping the traffic wasn't supper bad, thankfully it wasn't. It only took me about 15 minutes drive from my apartment. I really have to start to get use driving around the busy road of California.

Vegetable Couscous

Serves: 4

Fluffy dish will tickle your taste buds.

INGREDIENTS
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced and pressed
2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup dry couscous
1-1/2 cups water
2 small tomatoes, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS
1. Sauté onion, garlic and green pepper in oil in a large skillet until soft, then push to sides of pan.
2. In the center of the skillet, pour in the couscous. Add the water to the couscous, stirring gently. Top this mixture with tomato wedges and the cooked green peppers; cover pan for 3 minutes.
3. Add a little water and cook longer, if needed. Couscous should be light and fluffy.

NUTRITION INFO
Calories: 220
Fat: 4 g
Carbohydrates: 40 g
Protein: 6.5 g

Daily Survival Kit Good for the Soul

I was reading one of my friend's blog 'Glenndel' a little while ago. One of her entry did caught my attention and decided to post it on my blog too to keep reminding myself and others to keep this survival kit on their daily lives. Feel free to share this to your friends and family as well.

Toothpick
Rubber band
Band aid
Pencil
Eraser
Chewing gum
Mint
Candy Kiss
Tea Bag

Here's why:

Toothpick - to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others...Matt 7:1

Rubber Band - to remind you to be flexible, things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out...Romans 8:28

Band Aid - to remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else's...Col. 3:12-14

Pencil - To remind you to list your blessings everyday...Eph1:3

Eraser - to remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay...Gen. 50:15-21

Chewing Gum - to remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything. Phil 4:13

Mint - to remind you that you are worth a mint to your heavenly father...John 3:16-17

Candy Kiss - to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday...1 John 4:7

Tea Bag - to remind you to relax daily and go over that list of God's blessings...1 Thess 5:18

This is my gift to you. May God richly bless you.

To the world, you may just be somebody...but to somebody, you may be the world.

Send this to anyone who you think needs to know that they are loved by someone in their lives. Make someone's day just a little brighter today!

Insomnia!!!

What I am feeling right now is that I have "Insomnia". For the last few nights I just couldn't sleep early enough for me to get some good night sleep. I ended up sleeping too early!! I mean early in the morning somewhere between 230AM and 330AM sometimes around 4AM and the I got up between 8 and 9 in the morning same day.

Because I couldn't sleep 'till 3:00 in the morning I decided to pick up things in the apartment, clean the kitchen, do some dusting and other household chores that I can think of to keep myself busy. I wish I could vacuum at night, this is the only activity that is very inconsiderate for me to do because I am going to disturb a lot of people. So far keeping myself busy while am still awake it's working fine with me but keeping this late activity the same is not really working very well.

I don't know what's wrong with my body clock. I already forced myself to go to bed around 9 or 10 in the evening. Tried different tricks like counting numbers or counting sheep hoping this would help me sleep.

Any tricks you can advice to me to help me go to bed earlier? I prefer not to take any sleeping medications though.

For now... I have to go and do some other things. Hopefully I can get some input from you.

Later....

Duathalon Event

June 7, 2008 It's Michael's Duathalon Day!!! (Swim and Run) A lot of people traveling from other cities to join the Duathlon & Triathlon. The ocean water was about 56 Degree Fahrenheit and some people (women and men) who joined the swim didn't even had wet suit. I was surprised that they made it swimming in cold water. I guess you're not going to feel that much cold if your blood is rushing through your veins. I was very happy that Michael did a very good job with the Duathlon because he only had 6 weeks of training before the event.

Horse Radish leaves (Malunggay)

About a week ago I went to Pacific Ocean Market to pick-up some grocery. The store is about 15-20 minutes drive from my house and pretty much have good vegetable, meat and seafood selections. I got very excited when I saw fresh Malunggay, eventhough it was a little bit expensive, I decided to grab one pack and just freeze the left over unused vegetable. I also got one whole bamboo shoots for my vegetable soup. The next day I made some bisayan soup mixed malunggay, bamboo shoots with fried fish. Me and my husban's dinner was excellent and very healthy. I had some leftover as well for my lunch the next day.

How Mature are You?

You Are Very Mature

Even though you may not always feel like it, you're a full fledged adult. And while everyone should be as mature as you, most people aren't!

Are You Immature?

Officially Done w/ College Finally!!

Metropolitan State College of Denver Spring 2008 Graduation

Finally!!! After a very long struggle with school I am finally done. I am very excited and very happy that I accomplished something. I am now officially a BS Accounting graduate! I've been waiting for this time to come and now finally I did it!!

What a relieve that I am not gonna in school for quite a while. Hopefully I can recover will all the stress I've been through soon.

I am now opening another chapter of my life. School is done and Hello job hunting.