Recipe: Hungarian Sausage with Mushroom Sauce

I copied this recipe from my brother in law. (whom I think copied it from his brother, who copied it from their sister, who may have copied it from Martha Stewart...kidding..

I dunno know the origin really)

But now that we got that out of the way, 

I will share with you how it is done so you can copy it from me.

Disclaimer: This is like "The Ring" where you need to make a copy of the tape and let someone watch it. In this case, you need to recreate the recipe, let someone eat it and have them recreate it for someone else to eat and so on...

We call it the Hungry Yan Sausage with Mushroom Sauce.

First thing you do is get some Fine Hungarian Sausage (Hungry Yan--hahaha)

and fry them to perfection.

Chop the sausage.

Cook some Cream of Mushroom sauce, I used the ready mix from Knorr.

(I forgot to add in real mushrooms, we'll do that next time)

Drown your Hungry Sausage :) with your Creamed Mushroom sauce 

and prepare to be dazzled.

Now for the curse to get lifted, just recreate and serve. 

Have the others do the same. Spread it and save yourselves!

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The Easiest Recipe for Carbonara

I recall making Carbonara at home before and we ended up feeling so full, that we had to walk around the neighborhood afterwards to ease our stomach. Of course we waited a good 15-20 minutes before walking. I heard this makes a good exercise to lose weight.
Anyway, I didn't recreate the old Carbonara recipe I did way back which involved tons of butter and cheese (the ingredients itself are pretty heavy), all I did this time is to:

Buy a pack of Del Monte Carbonara (or you can buy any Easy to Cook Carbonara Mix) and 

Fried some Chicken Fillets. 

Cook the Pasta and combine the Carbonara mix to complete the ensemble.
Add in Cheese and bit of Basil, Salt n Pepper to taste, yumyum..
Voila' Instant Carbonara goodness..as easy as 1-2-3..

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Battle of Ants and Humans (Digmaan ng Langgam at Tao)

My sincerest apologies to those who doesn't understand Filipino or Tagalog.

This post is my way of reminding myself that I need to practice more using proper Tagalog words. If you are somehow curious to know what the post is all about, it's a funny way of describing my misadventures with a pesky insect, the ant. Don't worry I will try my best to translate. I'll be your humble translator. Speaking of translators, here's a funny quote from a brilliant movie. 
              I implore you to forgive my speaking of English, Jonfen...
              ...as I'm not so premium with it. - Alexander Perchov (Everything is Illuminated)

Liham na lumalarawan sa labanang walang humpay sa pagitan ng langgam at tao.
(A letter that describes the never-ending battle between ants and humans.)

Ang Nagkakaila (Disclaimer):
Kung may mga pangungusap na di maunawaan ito marahil ay dulot ng kagat ng langgam.
(If there are sentences that you do not understand, it's probably caused by the ant bites.)

..at dito po nagsimula ang maaksyong mga eksena. (and here is where the action scene begins..) haha, nakakatawa mag-translate..(haha, it's so funny to translate..) Even more hahahaha...

Ang daming langgam sa lababo at kalan! (There are so many ants in the sink and stove!)

Naglinis ako ng lutuan pati sa may lalagyan ng tubig. (I cleaned the cooking area as well as the water jug.)

Parang pagkaing bulok ang baho ng placemat dahil basa ito at may sebo pang kasama. (The placemat smelled like rotten food as it was all wet and oily.)

Masakit pa rin ang kanang palad ko gawa ng lason ng langgam na bumiktima sa akin nitong tanghali dahil sa walang malay na paghawak sa kalderong may misua na sinabotahe na pala ng mga pulang langgam.
(My right palm still hurts from the ant that bit me this afternoon while I unknowingly held the pot with the noodle egg soup that the ants have already sabotaged.)

Nilinis ko ang mga placemat at ngayon ay pinatutuyo.  
(I cleaned the placemat and let it dry.)
Nilinis ko din ang paligid ng lababo. (I also cleaned the areas surrounding the sink.)
May hugasan parin sa gitna, at pigilan mong banggitin ko at simulang isa-isahin ang problema sa marungis at kalawanging lalabong iyan. (There are still dishes in the middle, don't get me started on the various issues of that dirty and rusty sink)
Nilagay ko ang lalagyan ng mantika sa puting lalagyan ng anik anik at nilagyan ng tubig na may likido ng joy.
(I placed the oil bottle in the bowl for just about anything and put water with joy liquid - joy dishwashing liguid) 

Nilagay sa gitna ang mantikang pinalibutan ng langgam sa leeg nito.
(I put in the middle the oil bottle with lots of ants surrounding its neck.)

Tinatadtad ko ng baking powder ang paligid at naglaglagan ang mga lintik na langgam na parang nahulog sa tuktok ng bundok patungo sa ilog ng likido ng joy at tubig na tila lason sa kanila dahil wala pang ilang segundo ay kumulubot na ang mga ito at namatay. (I filled it's surroundings with baking soda and the pesky ants fell off one by one as if it fell from a mountain towards the river of joy liquid with water which seemed like poison to them as they curled up and died in just a few seconds)

Pilit kong nilinis ang lutuan sa pamamagitan ng espongha na may likido ng joy.
(I strived to really clean the cooking area with a sponge filled with joy liquid)
Sinundan ko ang mga yapak ng mga langgam at dinala ako nito sa dulo ng maruming sipilyong panglinis ng kung-ano.
(I followed the path of the ants and it brought me to a very grimy toothbrush for cleaning stuff and what-not).
Ang sebo nito malamang ang gusto ng langgam. (The grease probably attracted the ants)
Pansin kong mantika ang puntirya nilang talaga. (I noticed they are really aiming for the oil)
Ngunit bakit langis ang iniimbak ng mga ito, at hindi ang asukal. (But why do they choose to store oil and not sugar)
Nagtaas na rin ba ang presyo ng langis sa mundo ng mga langgam? (Is there an oil price increase as well in the world of ants?)

Marami rami din akong langgam na napatay kanina. (I probably killed quite a number of ants a while ago)
Ngayon ay pinatutuyo ko na ang lababo at lutuan. (Now, I left the sink and the cooking area out to dry)
Bago ako umupo sa silya ay napansin kong mas namaga ang aking kamay. (Before I sat on a chair I noticed that my hands became more sore)
Ngayon, di lamang palad ko ang namaga kundi sa ibabaw ng kamay ko malapit sa singsing. (Now, my palm isn't the only part that is sore but the top of my hand near the ring as well.)
Parang namanas. (Like it's all swelled up)
May langgam na nagbuwis ng buhay para makaganti kanina, habang masugid akong naglilinis.
(There is an ant who risked his life for vengeance while I am fervently cleaning.)
Sinamantala niya ang mga sandaling nakatuon ang atensyon ko sa pag-is-is ng sebo sa paligid.
(He took the chance while my attention is directed to scrubbing all the grime around)
Kung nasan man siya ngayon, marahil ay hinirang siyang bayani ng mga pulang langgam sa nangyaring engkwentro kanina.
(Wherever it is now, it may have been tagged as a hero of the red ants from the recent encounter earlier)

Nag-iisip ako ngayon kung paano ko su-solusyonan ang problemang ito.
(I am now thinking of how to resolve this issue)
Di pa tapos ang digmaan.
(The battle is not over yet)

May araw ka rin langgam!
(You'll have your day too Ant!)

Turning 30 and Turning to Zen

Disclaimer:
This is not your usual turning-30 post, it's my endless rant about anything and everything. 
It is struggling to find meaning in life while on the verge of being part of the thirty-something club. 
Goodbye twenty-something...
Here we go..

The past couple of weeks I have been so dazed and confused. I don't know where my life is headed. My career is in turmoil, I get these wonderful ideas about a lot and I mean a LOT of things and somehow I feel like it would take a miracle for it to ever materialize. I feel less and less confident about myself, pushing me to look things up on achieving a healthy lifestyle, only to find that (as of this writing) I have eaten a bit of chocolate, an ice cream stick and gulped 2 glasses of Coke in one sitting. I know I was quite an obedient child and I am kind of a model student in grade school when it comes to discipline but now I am stubborn as a mule. I can't restrain myself from eating junk.
I know there are clearly a lot of things in my life right now that I should be thankful for and God I am ever so grateful for all of those blessings. It's just that I am going through a phase in my life like I am in the middle of a crossroad, stuck into thinking then doing and then abruptly stopping.

Like my sister always tells me, I am like Jimmy Neutron's arch-enemy, the one who never finishes anything. I know I need to finish it but something is keeping me from doing so cause I am caught up with starting something else thinking that I am gonna finish it this time but then a new idea comes up and it goes on this vicious cycle without end. This is definitely a phase right? Is it identity crisis, or am I trying to find my way into this world like figuring out what I am really destined to do?
Am I just being so overly dramatic? No.

I'm just turning 30.

Only 7 days to go and I don't want to think that I am dreading it. I had been feeling foolish and misguided this past year. Honestly I haven't even thought of this turning 30 thing until recently. Years before it had been a struggle to tell people what my real age is, I felt embarrassed in grade school during flag ceremony, cause up until the 6th grade my classmates would tell me to line up amongst the 1st graders as I was short for my age.
During my sophomore year in high school I still get the same treatment, only this time they tell me to get back to the 6th grade. So my appearance is slowly catching on. In college, going to R rated movies were a real pain (I wanted to watch the Devil's Advocate), nobody would believe I am no longer a minor. Not even when I showed my school ID and knew the popcorn lady who went to my school, they just didn't believe I go to college, cause then I looked like a high school student.

So you get the drift, I am a late bloomer. It took me 5 years after college to start letting go of my t-shirt and sneakers look.
I even had my first boyfriend when I was 26 years old - before that I was part of the NBSB (no boyfriend since birth club), a year later I got married. My parents where practically throwing me out of the house. It's so funny cause my husband and I live alone with our dog and being Filipinos we're so used to having our parents with us all the time and both if us were like two careless youths, throwing caution to the wind whenever we make certain decisions at home like not going to work sometimes (my mother would never allow that). I see that as a bit immature, and I admit that we are still in the process of learning from all of these experiences.

Like lately I had been doing some serious thinking and that instead of focusing on my trying to go on a diet of some sort to feel rejuvenated (part of my quest for a healthy lifestyle gimmick that didn't pan out....yet) I should start with an inner self improvement, the wisdom gained from an ancient practice Zen will eventually radiate through me thus achieving a great balance of positive mental and physical health.

Learning is a continuous process, one can never learn everything in his lifetime. So we must always absorb whenever we can. And what better way to learn than to see through our mistakes. I am a firm believer that people who are self righteous and claim to have much wisdom fails to learn anything else, other that the belief that they know almost everything there is to know. In a Zen book I once read...okay it's more like a comic book, with pictures.. (I warned you about the immaturity)

"A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. "It's overfull! No more will go in!" the professor blurted. "You are like this cup," the master replied, "How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup."

So even though I am turning 30, it's no reason to act like some all-knowing-Yoda (although I fear too much that I am going to look like Yoda someday, or more like Master Jeremiah from Ghostfighter--please have some mercy)
What the Zen master meant was you may be full of knowledge but there is still more to learn and that sometimes you need to unlearn before you can learn...so did you learn anything? :)

Honestly, I'd like to practice the virtues of zen now that I am turning 30. My life felt so chaotic lately, if not for my husband and our furry dog I would've torn my hair apart from struggling to find meaning in my life. I think this is a decade long struggle for me, and I have yet to find the road to my treasure, my destiny. Another Zen story that may be related to finding one's destiny or path.

One evening after the sun had almost gone down, a young Buddhist came to the river bank. And seeing the deep waters, the weeds and stones in the waters, he couldn’t overcome his fears to cross the river.

He kept waiting for a long time till he spotted a Zen master on the other side.

“Master, can you tell me how to get to the other side,” yelled the young Buddhist.

The Zen teacher looked at the hurdles in the river and the young Buddhist, and after a moment of silence said, “Son, you are on the other side”.

So could this mean that what I may be searching for are all right here where I am?

Here are some Bitter-Sweet posts from bloggers everywhere
and their views on the Big 3-0.

A bit on the bitter side..
10 THINGS TO EXPECT AFTER YOU TURN 30

The optimistic dude..I think he knows "The Secret"..wink* wink*
30 reasons why turning 30 rocks

As I am writing the text above, I find it weird that I have been into the series 30 Rock recently and now I am turning 30 and determined to keep it my mantra that 30 Rocks!
I also find myself quite weird to try and find meaning from mundane things like watching a comedy show like that.

By far the article that I can mostly relate to, Mr. Rooney's observations are spot-on.
Turning 30 by Andy Rooney (CBS 60 minutes)

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