Trippin' (Volume II)

Dinner at Marci's

potluck.

one of the greatest words in the English dictionary.

when i heard that marci wanted our dinner get together to be a potluck affair, my mind went into overdrive. what to bring, what to bring...

i was the last one to reply to her morning text message since i was busy the whole day and read it when i could finally breathe. i was pretty psyched about preparing my own dish and the most practical and exciting (translation: easy to make) food i could think of was...SALAD! hehe.

so when i finally replied to her message, i found out that everybody already informed her what they would bring:

salad (c/o nads)
pork and chicken barbeque (c/o marci)
pasta (c/o marize)
rice (c/o marci)
cake (c/o carol)

ah, bummer.

appetizer was covered. so was the dessert. which meant i had to bring a dish for the main course. since we already had pork and chicken in the menu, i decided that seafood was my best bet.

ok, so i'm no chef. but i have been experimenting for a while (ah, my poor family. haha!). of course, my "concoctions" were more of
let's-use-the-leftovers variety but my culinary skills are really improving (at least in my opinion. hehe.). so far the most popular of my creations are my pasta dishes. i love italian food! one of my favorite sauces of all time is Sbarro's tomato sauce. so simple yet i can't really get the right amount of acidity...(drooling...)

ok, focus.

after much deliberation, i finally decided to bring a shrimp dish.

most of my close friends know i'm allergic to shrimp. i would say the more operative term nowadays would be was. i was allergic. yep, for about a year, i've been (gradually) exposing myself to shrimps in hopes of getting immuned and eventually overcoming my allergies. and it's working! the worst allergic reaction i got was swollen lips and an itchy throat. not bad, huh?

now all that was left for me to do was to look for an easy-to-make shrimp dish. ah, yes. the power of the Internet.

frankly, i'm actually pretty lazy in following recipes (that's why i can't recreate my old dishes. sigh.). but this was for a special occasion and i didn't want to take any chances. so, thanks to Google, i came across this recipe.

i'm not a frequent shopper at our local wet market so i wasn't prepared for the actual retail price of a quarter kilo of small prawns - 114 pesos!! whaaaat?? i could almost hear Jimmy's familiar voice in my head exclaim, "And all that can be yours...if the price is right!" i checked my purse and realized that i can't follow the specified amount in my recipe. sigh.

well, thank God these are my friends and i knew they wouldn't kill me for bringing a dish that'll serve probably about four people. as of that day, the total headcount was seven (including two guys). those guys alone can already finish my dish in one sitting. heavy sigh.

but, i already bought all the other ingredients so it was too late to change my recipe. well, since the serving size wasn't that promising, i had to compensate it with presentation. i still had some parsley left and used it as garnish. voila! my Garlicky Buttered Shrimps! :)

the dinner was fun, the food was great, and everybody was satisfied (*burp*).

sa uulitin, girls! (ok fine, and the hubbies, too. hehe.) :D



Happy Birthday, Zach!

sometimes, i just don't know when to keep my mouth shut. or in this case, my fingers.

when jeanne asked me through text message if they could borrow my digicam for her son's (and my inaanak's) first bday party because their camera was stolen a few days before the event, i offered to take the photos instead. i thought to myself that this was more practical because: 1) they would be too busy attending to the guests, and 2) it was the perfect opportunity for me to practice taking portraits and kid shots. of course, the fact that i was too attached to my camera wasn't the deal here. really.

i think my fingers had a mind of their own the moment i replied that i'll make a scrapbook of the photos i took as my bday gift to zach.

naturally, jeanne was ecstatic.

one time, i told rica (who already gave a photo scrapbook as a gift, also) that i wanted to do this for somebody.

here was my chance.

i was the only one from our barkada who came (yari kayo kay jeanne! :p), which was alright since i was too busy taking photos to really chat with anyone anyways.

as i was making my rounds, i realized that that day was probably the one time i most craved for a dSLR. it was frustrating to take shots of kids while they were moving around. though my camera's features included settings for action shots, it wasn't enough. ah well, i just had to make do.

the birthday was really fun. zach looked adorable in his sportscar polo shirt! :)



the party may be over, but my work has just begun.

i had the photos developed, bought the supplies i needed for my scrapbook, and printed out the captions (i really don't like my handwriting). all that's left is putting them all together.

when i was in college, i really loved making knick-knacks and jazzing up my organizer.

but that was then.

this is now.

i guess being in preschool kinda lowered my zeal in arts and crafts. i'm exposed to this kind of activity every single day so i guess once i'm home, i want to do something other than hold a pair of scissors and draw.

so here i am, staring at that pile of photos and paper and waiting for them to volt in and turn into a super scrapbook.

any time now...

hey, a girl can dream. :)