Reflection and Quiet Time

Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline. 

- William L. Shirer

 
image by Chris Sanchez

In celebration of Holy Week, I have decided to spend a lot of quiet time until Easter. My Husband and I will mostly spend a peaceful time at home and will only see relatives if need be.

I will also make myself scarce online for now. I will resume blogging and other online activities I participate in after the Easter festivities.

I wish everyone a safe and spiritually productive Holy Week. Keep happy, kind thoughts!

Recipe: Pasta in Creamy Tuna and Mushroom

The following week I made my baked tuna pasta dish with red sauce, I had to make another tuna pasta dish, this time with white sauce because my Husband loves white sauce in pasta dishes.

My Husband and I are opposites when it comes to food (example: he likes dark chocolate while I like white chocolate; he likes white sauce in pasta, I like red sauce). It's a good thing though, when we eat, there's always a variety.

Pasta in white sauce is equally delicious. But I love pasta in tomato sauce or sauce-less pastas because it has less fat. Anyway, it's not bad to have it once in a while, plus I get to make my Husband happier.

 

What you need:
200g cooked pasta (I used spaghetti noodles this time)
2 tbsp olive oil (or any cooking oil you choose)
I big can of Tuna
1 medium-sized onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
150g button mushrooms, sliced (or you can add more if you like)
1 medium-sized carrot, cut into small cubes
125g Fresh Cream
A dash of Basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

What you need to do:

1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.

2. Stir in the fresh cream.

3. Add the tuna and mushroom and leave for 10 minutes.

4. Throw in carrot bits. Stir once every few minutes until sauce thickens.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Add a dash of Basil.


Serve with Parmesan Cheese on top.

Tips:

a. Carrots are optional. I just add those in because I wanted to up the healthy factor of this dish and I like seeing color on the food I eat.

b. You can use bacon as an alternative to tuna. Trust me, it's delicious.

Bon appetit!

Saving the Environment One Plastic Bag at a Time

Finally received my package from buyinvite today.  They featured this from their site and gave members almost 50% discount.  So I had to buy, anyway, it's for a good cause.

My Envirosax Flora Pouch.

 

Each pouch has 5 Envirosax reusable bags.

Lightweight polyester, portable, waterproof, and weighing just 1.4oz each, these groovy bags are available individually or as a series of 5 contained within a handy pouch. With reinforced seams, each surprisingly large bag can hold a weight the equivalent of two supermarket plastic bags.
 

Founded by Belinda and Mark David-Tooze in 2004, Envirosax� originates from Currumbin Valley in South East Queensland, Australia. The Envirosax team uses renewable and recyclable products where possible, and is committed to operating on ecologically sustainable principles. Read more about Envirosax here.

Why do I need 5 reusable bags? My plan is to put them in 5 different bags of mine so everytime I change bags, I would always have one wherever I go.

Australia is one country who is very concerned about the environment and it is here that I saw reusable bags being used in supermarkets. I remember my aunt from America buying tons of reusable bags whenever she visits Sydney before. My mom who vacationed here in 2004 brought home a couple of reusable bags with her and it was my first time to see such bags. I never really cared much about it at that time. I thought it was more of a marketing strategy of supermarkets in Australia. Until I migrated here, that's when I learned more ways of helping save the environment, one of which is to bring reusable bags when you do your groceries instead of using plastic bags.

We all know the damage that plastic bag does to our environment (click click click if you don't know!). I hope all of us do our share by minimizing the use of plastic bags and instead keep a reusable bag inside our bags wherever we go.

I always make it a point to have one reusable bag wherever I go and I somehow have a collection of them at home now. A couple of them I keep in the trunk of our car because I use them when we do our grocery and shopping. We still have a couple of plastic bags at home but we only use them for garbage. My goal is to minimize the use of plastic bags and avoid bringing home a lot of grocery bags whenever we do grocery and shopping. It took me awhile to make this a habit but nowadays, I consciously remind myself to ALWAYS bring at least one reusable bag. Sometimes, I'd forget to bring reusable bags to the grocery and I really get mad at myself whenever that happens. It may be just two or three plastic bags but still, I'm not proud of myself carrying home plastic bags nowadays.

Some other tips:
1. If you are only buying a few things and it can in fit your bag, please advice the checkout person that you don't need your bought items to be put in a plastic bag. Just take the receipt and you will be good to go.

2. When paying for the items your chose to buy, immediately give the checkout person your reusable bag/s and tell him/her to put your paid stuff in it instead of putting it inside a plastic bag. In some countries, when you give your reusable bag/s to the checkout person, they know what it is for. If they don't know, tell them, in that way you are also educating them.

3. If you have plastic bags at home, reuse them as many times before throwing them out.

Book: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Instead of writing how good a read this is, let me tell you my journey towards finding this book and how the story of Elizabeth Gilbert made an impact in my life.

 

How I found this book. I found this at a time when I felt a little tired of reading fiction books. It was also at that time when I thought, "Since I can't travel to all the places I want to go to, I will just read about it in books!" I had a phase when I kept buying Lonely Planet guidebooks in order "to travel" but I got tired of it the way I got tired of reading fiction. So I browsed thru some more at Borders and found autobiographies in their Travel section. I was in book haven when I saw tons of travel autobiographies--the answer to what I was looking for. The book "Eat Pray Love" caught my eye because it was about pleasures, spirituality and love. At the time I was craving to read about people's travels, I also craved for some womanly wisdom on life as I was at a period of transitions (I just got married) and so I bought it because the book is not only about travel in the literal sense of the word but most importantly it was about a woman's travel to finding her life and being happy again.

How it changed me. Before I read this book: I'm aware of things that give me pleasure, I know how to have fun; I have a strong faith--still growing in terms of my faith but nevertheless, my spirituality is intact; I'm able to manage problems, frustrations and difficulties; I have a stable support of friends and family; I'm content with my career; I'm inlove and have just gotten married to the love of my life; and most of all, given that I enjoy a busy life and I'm always surrounded by people I love, I welcome moments of solitude when I can just sit still and reflect. However, I felt there was a missing link to my everyday living. I'm inspired and blessed but I needed to make all the elements in my life work to the best of me. When I read this book, I found the answer: BALANCE.

Let me share the perfect quote from the book about Balance:

"To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have 4 legs instead of 2. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God."

That's why every time I'm faced with challenges or I'm having difficulty on the many tasks I juggle, I stop, breathe, clear my head and find the answer/s thru my heart instead. Nowadays, that's how I figure out what's REALLY IMPORTANT in that very moment I'm in. With balance, I'm able to find my centre easily when I'm getting out of focus, and able to maintain my equilibrium in my day-to-day living.

I'm very very very excited to see the movie. As in! I can't wait for it to be shown and see the book come to life. It will be shown on 14 October 2010 here in Australia. For your respective country's release dates, please check it out here.

If you have read "Eat Pray Love" and want to know what happened in the lives of Elizabeth Gilbert and Felipe (the man she met in Bali), read about their journey to embracing marriage (again) in "Committed". 

He Can't Live Without Me

One thing about me and my Husband is that we are not much into words. Yes, we have the occassional letters, notes and we always express simple affection towards each other. However, we never liked talking about promises or saying grand statements like "You complete me!" hahaha. When it comes to our relationship as a couple, we believe that love is not love unless manifested in actions. We are a "less talk, more action" kind of couple. We both don't make promises to each other and we both don't mind NOT hearing them.

While writing this, I remember the moment we got engaged. His unique way of saying that he wanted to marry me was to show me a family (parents pushing their baby on a stroller) walking past us in a mall and said "I want something like that". And he was able to convince me to marry him because he never told me promises, instead, he showed me a clear example of what he wanted our life to be in a few years.

No matter how much I share some cheesy stuff we do or say to each other online, that is just that. Mind you, the surprises and our times together are never intended for romance (we are not romantics) but we do those cheesy stuff only for fun and we just like amusing each other. We just like making each other laugh.

And so if you'll ask me before if my Husband can't live without me, I'd reply to you, "I don't know." Because I really don't know...because he never said so...and I had never asked. Thinking about it now, that might be kinda weird 'no? We've been together for seven years now (bf-gf for 4 years and married for 3 years) and I never knew the answer to that question.

Until two weeks ago. We were talking about going home to Manila and we had a couple of "what if?" questions one of which was this:

Me: What if you need to vacation in the Philippines without me? Will you still go?
Him: It depends how long my vacation is
Me: What do you mean?

Him: Kung sandali lang pwede
Me: Eh ano naman kung matagal
Him: It wouldn't be the same without you vacationing with me
Me: How can it not be the same, eh it's the Philippines? That's home! If you vaycay without me, you can go wherever you want and see whomever you like...sky's the limit coz I won't be sagabal to your gimiks.
Him: I can't vacation alone for long without you
Me: Aha! Are you saying you can't live without me now???? (trying not to laugh)
Him: (looking like an embarrassed school boy) *pauses a bit* Yes

**Laughter**

So that's how I learned that he can't live without me. :)

To my dearest husband, happy 38th wedding monthsary. Thanks for taking me out today and thank you for days that turn out extraordinary just because I learn about things I never knew before. Our marriage is indeed one big adventure :)

Recipe: Tuna and Olives Pasta Bake

If you think my Chili Spaghetti recipe is easy, this is easier, I swear.

I'm the kind of wifey that gets turned off with recipes with so many ingredients and procedures. I sometimes cook complicated dishes on special occasions but on everyday living, I keep the fuss in cooking to a minimum.

One of my philosophies in life is to "simplify things" and that is also how I manage my time in the kitchen. Some recipes that come my way, I would probably disregard some ingredients if there are too many. Sometimes I'd find an alternative if they are not available in our pantry. Cooking is supposed to be fun and easy. If I find a dish too tedious to prepare and cook, I'd probably just dine out and order it from a restaurant.

This recipe is a product of my love for tuna, red pasta sauce, olives and basil. Sometimes, you just have to put together some of your favorites into one dish in order to create something easy, healthy and delicious.

 


What you need:

300 grams cooked pasta (in my case I used macaroni)

500 grams tomato sauce or pasta sauce

1 big can of Tuna

125 grams stuffed Green Olives

A dash of Basil, Pepper and Salt

1/2 cup shredded Tasty Cheese/Cheddar Cheese

What you need to do:

1. Pre-heat oven to 100 degrees.
2. In a pasta dish, gently stir in the cooked pasta, pasta sauce and green olives.
3. Add Basil, Pepper and Salt to taste.
4. Scatter over the Tasty Cheese/Cheddar Cheese.
5. Place pasta dish inside oven to bake at 150 degrees for 10 minutes or till cheese is golden.

Serve with french bread or salad.

Nutrional Benefits:

Tuna - high in omega-3 fatty acids
Olives - source of Vitamin E, oleic acid and protein
Basil - source of beta-carotene

Sydney Camera Market

7 March 2010

Organised by the Camera and Image Collectors Society, the Sydney Camera Market is held twice or thrice a year. It is in this event that photographers, hobbyists, enthusiasts and collectors can find vintage cameras and lenses for cheap prices.

Other items that they sell: secondhand digital cameras (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Sony etc), lenses, flashes, polarizers, lens hoods and caps, bags, tripods, camera straps and magazines.

Other than finding "diamonds in the rough", this is a place where one can talk to people with the same interest for photography. Most of the stall owners are very accommodating in discussing buyers' question on gadgets and photography even if you are not buying from them.

The event is held from 10:00am to 3:00pm at one of the halls of the Ultimo Community Centre. The place is not that big so expect little room to move once you're inside. We arrived before 11am and there was a crowd already.

Our friend Jon was already there. He was the one who told us about this event and I was glad to see him. He helped us try out some vintage lenses via his camera.

Now for our great finds. We were able to buy a vintage Fujinon lens (55mm, f1.8). Haven't used this yet as I have to buy an M42 mount for my Canon camera. Test shots from this lens produced sharp images. Tag price on this little one was AUD$35.00 but the seller gave me a AUD$5.00 discount.

With the bargain I made from the Fujinon lens, I bought a cute lens hood for the lens only for AUD$3.00.

Our great find that day was a vintage Fujica camera (the grandfather of Fuji cameras) released in the early 1980s. The camera and lens were priced at AUD$42.00. My Husband asked the seller if we can buy it for AUD$35.00 and he gave it to us!!! What great bargain that was.

The next Sydney Camera Market is scheduled on 25 July 2010. Hope to see you there!

Here are some sample shots from our vintage Fujica. We just scanned the photos, no editing done so you can see actual shots.

Here's a full body shot. Notice the vignette on the side of the photograph.

Here's a more close-up shot. Notice the beautiful bokeh (eyeloveit!!!).

A silhouette shot. In the real photo (as in hard copy), the outlines are sharp and crisp.

To have this camera is a dream come true. Having to buy it at a very cheap price was a big bonus. No matter how digital everything are these days, using film cameras will always be love. I love the learning that goes with it, I love that you really have to think about settings because there's no take twos (there is, but you know what i mean), I love the romance of waiting for your photos to get developed (one day wait here in our suburb), the anticipation and wondering (and fear?? hehe) what your photos really look like and the joy of seeing some good photographs when they've been handed over to you.

The Husband and I have already bought a couple of coloured films and some black & white films. The Fujica will be one of our cameras when we cover events now.

1st Photo courtesy of Jeanny.

Sunset Today

Just want to share the beautiful sunset show during our dinner tonight.

Sensual pleasures have the fleeting brilliance of a comet; a happy marriage has the tranquility of a lovely sunset. 
- Ann Landers

Wishing you a lovely week of sunsets and happy smiles.

Busy Weekend in Photographs

My weekend started on Thursday afternoon at Starbucks. After work, Jeanny and I had a gym and sauna bonding at her apartment. I waited for Jeanny at a Starbucks near her office and that's where I wrote down all the things that my Husband and I need to accomplish for the weekend. I had to make a list because there's a lot of things to do other than our usual weekend household chores. I also took this chance to call my friend Michelle regarding Hilda's hen's night party in April as I'm helping her with some of the preps. After talking to Michelle, I called Hilda, this time to talk about her wedding invites which Chris and I will be creating. 

After my gym and sauna bonding with Jeanny, Chris arrived at her apartment and joined us for dinner. As usual, Jeanny came up with another yummy pasta dish (thanks Jeanny!).

The following morning, Chris accompanied me to see our doctor for my ultrasound. The doctor needed to see if I was healing well from the inside (due to my surgery last December 2009). We were so relieved and happy when our doctor said I'm all good and healthy and it's as if no surgery happened inside my body. Thank you God!

Watched "Alice in Wonderland" after our Thai lunch.  We liked it.  Entertaining and visually stimulating.

Chris tried on his 3D glasses while at lunch.  We got the glasses for AUD$1.00/pair so we can use them whenever we watch 3D films. 

After the movie, we window shopped and walked around the mall.  It's been awhile since we've done "malling" so this was refreshing for both of us. 

Afternoon tea at Max Brenner to rest our feet from walking and to take a break before we headed to the supermarket for our grocery shopping.

How does one know our favorite chocolate flavour?  You can base it on our skintones hehe.  Chris loves dark chocolate while I love white chocolate.  I love Max Brenner's hot white chocolate---parang ka lang umiinom ng gatas :).

After attending mass on Saturday afternoon, we went to Kmart to buy chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies in preparation for Easter festivities.  After shopping, I suggested we buy our first takeaway pizza for dinner. 

Other than the fact that I'm still in a celebratory mood from Friday's good news about my health, I figured we could use the break from home-cooked meals.  Plus, I also wanted to have a more relaxing Saturday night. 


Chris being the chocoholic that he is, can't help but order Domino's Choco Lava Cake too. 

 A relaxing dinner it was as we gorged on a large Supreme Pizza and a bottle of champagne while we watched movies.


Sunday afternoon we had coffee at Coffee Culture after we picked up our developed photographs taken by our vintage camera.  We are so happy with the results!  I will share more about our great vintage finds from the Sydney Camera Market in another entry.
 

It was during Sunday afternoon coffee that we talked about our "strategies" for our upcoming commitments.  We've got very busy weeks ahead of us.  Our social calendar's already full til the month of May.  And for some reason, it is during our coffee dates that we somehow figure out what and how we're going to do things.  Must be a habit or a ritual ours already, I don't know.  But one thing's for sure, it during this coffee dates that we have created concepts for our projects.

An Afternoon with John Fick

One fine afternoon, I was blessed to have been picked up by the Husband and our friend John after work. John brought his car to work and they were fortunate to leave the office early, and so we all went home together.

John Fick is a photographer based in Sydney. I'm a fan of his work--not because we are friends hehe, I actually saw his work first before meeting him--because he is a born artist. He is creative and prolific. Other than skills he has acquired through years of experience, he has style and technique that inspired me to do better in photography.
That one fine afternoon inside his car, I learned more about his work, his passion for photography and his love for learning. All the more made me admire him. I'm so blessed to have spent an hour and a half listening to his words of wisdom. As in nakaka-inspire talaga. If only I had a videocamera with me, I would have taped his "mini-lecture" (Maybe I really need to buy that Sony Bloggie after all?) so I can watch it again and again. So you know what I did? I typed in all the key words of our conversation on my mobile phone to at least help me remember later.

Some thoughts he shared with us touched on topics of Light, Location, Vision, Technique, Action-Reaction (how a photographer engages his/her subject).

He shared how important it is for one to just keep on learning (no matter how long one is in the business) and to be open to new ideas.

He gave us tips on covering weddings and talked of some of his memorable experiences while shooting a wedding.

And the best thing he said that afternoon was this:
"You know, a good and successful photographer always has a supportive wife."

Siyempre, kinilig naman ako dun hehehe.

The biggest bonus of all was that he let me touched his Leica M8. Ohhhhh la la!

I'm still dreaming of owning my first Leica one day and John collects them. How cool is that? Before I took it out of the camera bag, Chris warned me, "Be careful, that's worth half a million pesos." Freaking crazy.

I arrived home smiling and very very inspired to move further with my passion for photography. Since I've started learning photography, I've been taking two steps back all the time wondering if I should continue this or not. After my great conversation with John, I realized that God is making a way for me to really learn because for years now, God makes sure that I am surrounded by talented and creative people.

If you want to be inspired as well, visit John Fick's website at http://www.johnfick.com/

Restaurant: Subsolo Spanish Resto and Bar

If you're looking for a Spanish and Portuguese restaurant in Sydney with classy but cozy ambience, gastronomically-satisfying food with reasonable prices and great service, I would highly recommend Subsolo Spanish Resto and Bar to you. (Note: "Subsolo" means "basement" in Portuguese) 

The space is very welcoming with a variety of tables ranging from bar space to private areas. Has a New York-meets-Barcelona vibe with sultry red and brown interiors.

 

Location: Unassuming and can be easily missed as it is in the basement of a building. However, never underestimate the district in which its situated as Chanel and Louis Vuitton surrounds this underground space.

Ambience:

Since we're a group, we were given a table at the far end of the room with curtains from each of our sides to give us a bit of privacy (see curtain on the photo below).

It can be dark for taking photographs but it's a beautiful place to bring a date with it's romantic and warm lighting.

Above our table is a chandelier--i love it! So stylish and glamourous.

Food:

I started the night with a glass of Sangria (AUD$15.00/glass) while we waited for friends to arrive. Unlike other Spanish restos, Subsolo only serve their Sangria in big wine glasses--it's really big (good enough to share), hence the price. Their Sangria's refreshing and a bit strong compared to other Sangrias I've drank before. I'm fascinated that they added a Star Anise to their Sangria, made it more tasty.

Then came the tapas we ordered:

Zucchini Flowers filled with three Spanish Cheeses (AUD$24.00/entree). My first time to try these tapas. It's crunchy and the minute you cut the Zucchini Flowers in two, cheese overflowed. If you love cheese, you can never go wrong with these.
 

Chicken Chorizo with Caramelised Eschallots (AUD$20.00/entree). Chorizo is one of my favorite tapas in any Spanish resto. I never fail to order these. Their Chicken Chorizo was uniquely sweet as they caramelised eschallots in order for the chorizos to have their own sauce. I love it! (Usually, chorizos swam in just oil in other Spanish restos) We had two orders of these which only showed how much we liked it.

Crunchy Bacalao (Salt-Cod) Croquettes on Aioli (AUD$24.00/entree). This one is divine. Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside (yes, just like the TV ad). At first bite, I almost forgot that it was fish inside the croquette. You can taste the fish but it's not overpowering.

Paprika Salt and Pepper Squid with Saffron Mayonnaise (AUD$21.00/entree). Soft, easy-to-bite and fresh.

Paella Valenciana with Chicken, Pork Chorizo and Seafood (AUD$39.00). Visually beautiful, the chicken, chorizo and mussels were arranged to entice one's appetite. The mussels, and to my surprise, scallops tasted fresh and the pork chorizo were exquisite.

Just a tip: Cooking the Paella takes 40 minutes so if you know that you'd like to eat Paella, order it as soon as you come in to save you time from waiting.

Churros filled with Dulce de Leche, Spanish Chocolate Sauce and Honey Nougat Ice Cream (AUD$16.00). An amazing dessert, I swear this is to-die-for. Usually the thing to look out for when ordering Churros is the chocolate dip. But the Churros in Subsolo had something more than the delicious chocolate dip. The Churros had Dulce de Leche filling!!!!! It was sooooo yummy. And the siding was not just an ordinary ice cream--it was Nougat Ice Cream. So so wonderful to the palate. Truly, the grand finale of our dinner.

It was one great meal enjoyed in the company of good friends. I will be coming back here soon to have a taste of their Pork Chorizos and Portuguese Espetadas (Charcoal Spit-Roasted Skewers).

I would also like to commend their customer service. I made reservations via email and they replied the same day. I asked a few questions and they were very accommodating. They also called me two hours before our reservation to make sure that everything is set. Our host during dinner was very friendly who even cracked jokes while he served us.

Subsolo Spanish Resto and Bar
161 King St. corner Castlereagh St Sydney NSW 2000
For all bookings and inquiries
please call 9223 7000 or email bookings@subsolo.com.au

For more photos of our dinner, click here.