Anyone can COOK!

My family and friends can attest to this - I don't cook. I never cook. The words Ayen and cooking cannot be together in a single sentence.
I have always been uninterested in cooking. I love good food and enjoy eating but to prepare the delectable masterpieces myself, "No, thank you!". I grew up in a family of great cooks - my mom and grandmothers - so it was surprising that I lack the skill and curiosity for it. I think cooking is very time and energy consuming when you can purchase delicious food for the same price of buying the ingredients. The closest thing I get to being in the kitchen is washing the dishes or when, ages ago, I was mom's little helper. I'm always annoyed when people question how I don't cook and how it would be when I get married, how will you feed your family, things like that. Well, my perspective has always been "I will not go to college, work hard to build my career and earn well just to end up cooking for someone else. If I want to cook, I will. For myself. Surely, my future spouse won't marry me based on a cooking show criteria, the same way I won't judge my future spouse if he doesn't sing as well as Jason Mraz. And I'll work so hard to afford a cook and to buy my favorite food, ok?". Hehehe. So yeah.

While making my bucket list for 2012, I included "Cook Something" just to try something new for myself. It was actually one of last things I worked on since, being me, it's unexciting. For encouragement, I listed down my favorite food, mostly from restaurants, so I will be motivated to try this new adventure. I asked for recipes and did my research, and for the months of August & September, I'm happy to announce that I, Ayen Santos, non-cook extraordinaire, finally gave cooking a try. For August, I prepared some of my lunch that I bring to the office. Stir fry cauliflower & broccoli and Ginisang Ampalaya. One weekend in Bulacan, I prepared breakfast for my folks - Tinapa Rice and Longganisang Bawang - which lolo and lola enjoyed. I made the same set for a Subic getaway with my cousins last weekend, they loved it too. In addition, I went to the supermarket, buy ingredients and cooked Korean Beef Bulgogi with side veggies weeks ago, I brought some for my officemates and friends and they were so surprised I did cook. Well, me too!

I am yet to fall in love with 'cooking' but I'm glad I surpassed another challenge.
I'm so proud of how much I've changed for the better because of this 2012 Project.
I did it for myself! Life is good!

What up, February?

The first half of February flew by in a blur due to the demands of work. Seminars and a big company event ate up most of my time, but I’m not complaining since these have been wonderful opportunities for my (*brace yourselves*) professional and personal growth. Pretty engaged with a master list of tasks, I’ve left little to no chance of posting an update here. It’s only now, remaining days of the month that I finally found the instant to fill in the highlights of the busy February that was.

1. Seminars, seminars and did I say, seminars?

I work for a training company specializing in courses for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). I do the organizing, sales & marketing, material preparation, logistics, reports and planning for these seminars and though it’s a bit overwhelming, this is the best job for me (yet). Meeting people from all walks of life and being appreciated by them is truly fulfilling.

On the other hand, we staged this big event, an awarding ceremony for top young Filipino marketers, early February.I met a lot of industry bigwigs there and was inspired by the bright awardees. Our egress ended close to midnight but we sure had fun.

2. Yumi’s Homecoming or The Night of Polka Dots

My bestfriend(slash)college classmate Yumi, who’s now Singapore-based, went home for a couple of days. Since her trip is short, we just had dinner at KFC Gateway, mall we frequent to during good old, university days. It’s been almost 2 years since we graduated. Time flies fast and we lead different lives now, but it was great to see them. Unintentionally, 3/4 of us were wearing polka dots. Talk about destiny. Haha.

3. Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day this year at home. My stepsister cooked yummy salpicao while I bought drinks and ice cream, as contribution. It was a relaxed date, away from the stress and traffic Valentines bring.

4. One Laguna Sunday

I spent one Sunday in our Laguna home to attend my younger stepsister's Family Day at St. Scholastica's. We went to her school mid-morning, and my tummy got giddy over the delicious offerings at the fair. Pizzas, fish & fries(which I loved!), Cerealicious, dirty ice cream, buko shake and more. We had lunch (of my favorite, shrimps!) at home, rested and chatted for a bit before we returned to the school to watch the students' presentations. Early evening, we drove to Tagaytay to chill and boy, was it chilly + windy + cold there. We had some Starbucks before we decided to go home. Albeit short, it was a peaceful and work-free weekend.

5. Bustos Fiesta

Every last Sunday of February, my town in Bulacan celebrates fiesta. There's a carnival, fairs with all sorts of stuff to sell, novenas, processions and yep, food. Loads of it. When in Bulacan, I wake up early on Saturdays because it's Lola's trip to the market and I enjoy accompanying her. The people I see there are folks I've met since I was young and the conversations I overhear are hilarious. Lola got me pop rice and some rice cakes for breakfast. For lunch, we had crabs and shrimps(LOVE). Just when I thought it's over, we had Chicken Teriyaki for dinner. Blissful Saturday, it is. Come Sunday, it was the day of the fiesta. We had family members, relatives and friends over for lunch and need I say more? We're in food heaven.

DIY Binondo FoodTrip

Except for the usual Siomai and Chowking fare(and my all-time favorite Hanpao Noodle Feast, which restaurant closed down), I am not fond of Chinese cuisine. Whenever my family dine out, I am very vocal of my dislike of Chinese restaurants. Sure, I eat the stuff but not the happy and excited feeling when having pasta, ice cream, pizza. You know?

It's quite ironic to write Binondo as one of my go-to places in my planner. Maybe it's my mechanism telling me "Ayen, give Chinese food a try."

I've been there when I was younger and have passed the area so many times before, but I read enough blog entries and raves to look forward to going back there for a "food adventure".

Yesterday, I persistently convince my boyfriend to go there with me for merienda.

We went, and without plans, ended up at random eateries to fill up our stomachs.

Highlights:

1. Quick Stop - siomai is so-so, black gulaman is sweet and yummy and the Fried Lumpia is the best tasting lumpia I had. Rarely do I see Ado eat vegetables, well, he enjoyed the lumpia.

2. Dong Bei - I read somewhere that they serve the best dumplings in Binondo. Not fond of dumplings, but they sure are delicious. The pork and chives variants are good, Ado liked them. But again, not for me to repeat. By the way, I liked the canned tea they served, which tasted like gulaman.

3. Random grocery store - Bought Korean ice cream sandwich. I'm obsessed with ice cream, divine.

4. Eng Bee Tin and Holland Store - We dropped by these places to check out hopia, tikoy (fish shaped ones are cute but I never eat tikoy), delicacies and other edible stuff. I saw Ian Dy of Old Manila Walks at Holland Hopia Store with his tour group. I initially thought of joining his tour but Ado disagreed saying we have limited budget. True but I still want to join someday.

5. Singabore Fish balls - Tried the curry fish balls which lost my appetite. Ado had lobster and squid balls which were good, according to him.

Our Binondo food trip was nice, but honestly, these foods are not for me. It was a memorable experience though and I learned the importance of research the next time I go for a food adventure.