what a beautiful sunrise after a night of rain. so i did have my usual coffee and smoking session to start my morning.

to add spice to the beautiful morning, i played my CD of Christmas Classics (50s and 60s artists), which took me a year to compile. as i was enjoying my coffee, smoke, and the music, i did get reminded of the time i was still in the efforts of downloading these selections. i used to hear them at Starbucks Coffee during Christmastime and at SM Supercenter in Sucat (yes, i do salute how SM chooses its house music). in all craving to have the songs, i'd take note of some lines of the lyrics and search them at Google, find the titles and artists, and download the songs at LimeWire). finally, i have them all in one CD.

at the time when i was at the height of downloading, i remember my ex-boyfriend asking sarcastically, ANU YAN? so i excitedly answered, i'm collecting songs for a Christmas Classics CD. i hear them at Starbucks and at SM. to my surprise, he answered back, BAKIT MO PINAG-AAKSAYAHAN NG PANAHON ANG MGA YAN? IKAKAYAMAN MO BA YAN??

gosh, i was dumbfounded; insulted as i was, i still managed to answer: GUSTO MONG YUMAMAN? MANG-HOLDUP KA NG BANGKO!

remembering that line put a smile on my face while having my coffee; i felt contented and satisfied with that clever answer that i gave. instead of getting pissed at the memory, my day did brighten up.

and that's the story for today, Wednesday, October 21.

yeah, i understand, the Ilocano type of PINAKBET is quite different. the one she was talking about is actually how we do it in the house too. the bagoong she was talking about was the shrimp paste (bagoong alamang -- if you are in the States, you will find this in the Asian store.), not the usual Ilocano bagoong made of fish.

So here's how I do it:

slice the vegetables into long pieces (usually longer than how the Ilocano cook does it). ampalaya, okra, string beans, eggplants, and include the squash, which you like.

saute some garlic. then when it gets golden brown, throw it away. do not include it in the recipe. we're only after the flavor. then saute the red onions, the ginger (very important!), and the tomatoes. do this real quick, don't let the spices cook.

it's a different case, though, if you would want to include some pork slices with the fat. if you do this (mas masarap), don't use oil anymore. do it before you saute even the garlic. on the heated pan, put the pork fat slices on really low fire. wait for the oil to come out from the fat, and for the "balat"/pork skin to turn crispy brown like a little bit of citcharon (this takes quite long). take out the pork so you can saute the spices on the animal fat. you will put them back later on.

after the spices, put back the pork, and here, it is your option to add some shrimps (cooked, steamed at least) or some sliced lechon kawali. if you have chicharon, ang sarap din ihalo nyan.

still same procedure on the spices -- throw away the garlic and don't let the rest cook itself.

after the spices, add two or three tablespoons of the "bagoong alamang"/shrimp paste and saute VERY QUICKLY. Like 15 seconds. How tasty it would be is your option, but do not exceed 3 full tablespoons. Add a little soy sauce just to give it color (maximum of 3 tablespoons on a normal quantity).

then time to add your vegetables. sequence: the hard ones first -- the string beans and the squash. after about about 2 minutes, add mo ung mga malalambot -- the eggplant, the ampalaya, and the okra. [VERY IMPORTANT: don't add water, or else everything will end up like the Ilocano pinakbet!] let the vegetables excrete their water by covering the pan after mo haluin, and let it simmer.

how cooked the vegetables would be is your option. I usually prefer it crispy and half-cooked. After a little while, your pinakbet is done.

remember the secret -- LOW FIRE. This is usually the mistake of new cooks. Keep on checking and be careful sa paghalo para hindi ma-deform ang veggies.

ENJOY your PINAKBET. :)

I changed my mind. SIMON will be a 2000 Toyota Corolla XE. :)

This color, this look.

All power, fresh, all stock. Manual tranny.

The Last Days of Disco
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

I love this album! So gay! Thanks to Mermaid! :) I'm on the nose to get an original VCD/DVD for the movie too.

Everything is complete -- a Kodak EasyShare 7-MP digital camera and a Magnavox 2GB Mp3 player, which I bought from WalMart in the States last year; a Maxtor 160-GB external passport hard drive which Mom bought me last April; a set of SONY MDR earphones which I have long kept in reserve; and a Kingston 2GB flash drive bought last March [it's pink, SO GAY].

[audio:http://kimbelarme.i.ph/music/calliope.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=104]

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