Sinful

In less than a week, I’ve been to Kooky & Luscious four times. I’ve just consumed a plateful of Seafood Pasta. Now I am working my way through a slice of Chocolate Dementia. I feel like I’m gaining five pounds as I write this. Kooky & Luscious is my newest sin. I am so addicted to it that I refused to wait and have lunch with my husband today, and just opted to dine alone.

So far, I have only tried their pasta as a main course. I am looking forward to getting a taste of their rice meals and other specials. But knowing me, I’m probably going to order the same thing everyday.

Here’s a glimpse of my Kooky and Luscious experience.

Friday Lunch

I’d been stuffing myself with Chiken Ginger’s Hainanese chicken for two days. Felt like trying something new. The rest of my choices had no appeal to me: Mongolian Quickstop, Goto King, Dimsum ‘n Dumplings, Barrio Fiesta, Jollibee, Ka Indoy’s, Country Style, World Topps/Bento Box & Zuppa. I was too lazy to hunt for food outside of Cybermall.

I had been looking at the cakes from outside of Kooky & Luscious for the last couple of days. I thought it was time to try it out.

I ended up ordering a Mushroom and Bacon Pasta and a Chocolate Dementia. I was delighted with both. My bill: two hundred pesos.

The pasta was heavy and though the cake was exquisite, I couldn’t finish the last few bites. I couldn’t wait for Denver to try the Dementia. He didn’t say, but I’m pretty sure he was disappointed with the teeny, tiny leftover cake I brought home. I was excited to take Denver there on my next visit.

Saturday Breakfast

I promised to take Denver to K & L but my team insisted I have breakfast with them. They feasted on Dimsum ‘n Dumplings’ all-you-can-eat siomai. I went to get some take-out from K & L and decided on Pumpkin Soup and Ceasar Salad at sixty pesos each.

Shangri-La’s pumpkin soup is still the best. My own pumpkin soup can compete with K & L’s recipe. But it was alright. I found it a little too thick, but it had the right amount of pepper for my taste, and to my joy, more croutons than I was expecting (yey)! The Ceasar Salad was a little salty. But bacon is supposed to be salty right? So I guess it had a normal taste. Hee. All in all, it wasn’t bad at all for a one hundred and twenty peso meal. What sucked though, was that they didn’t have a plastic fork for my take-out. I had to snitch one from D ‘n D.

Saturday Lunch

A couple of hours after my light K & L breakfast, I was back in there for lunch with Denver. He was looking forward to the visit. I built it up a little too much and I guess that psyched him. Poor guy was disappointed because every meal he wanted was not in stock. I felt a bit like a loser bragging about the food. He is very easy to please when it comes to chow. At that time, he just wanted rice and beef or pork. I can’t believe they had none.

He settled for the same Mushroom and Bacon Cream Puttanesca I had the day before. I felt bad because I know he really wanted to eat rice, and probably just stayed because of me.

I ordered Seafood Pasta. I liked it better than the Bacon and Mushroom deal. It’s a challenge to visually identify all the ingredients because they were all brown, but I could taste anchovies, capers, fish & mussels. The mushrooms weren’t hard to see. If I were to describe the taste, it was like “tuyo” in olive oil and pasta. Denver wouldn’t like it. It was swimming in olive oil. I loved every forkful.

This time he had a fair share of my Dementia. I was envious of his Coke so I decided to have one too.

Denver said that his pasta was okay, but I know his taste. I’m sure he would prefer Jollibee spaghetti over that on any given day. I appreciate the act to please me. I was so enthusiastic about bringing him there kasi.

We spent three hundred and seventy five. I think that’s a fair price. We were both so full, and I enjoyed my food.

So there. I’ve been spending my noons at Kooky & Luscious. I’m a glutton (again). For the month of August, I’ve been to the gym ONCE. My goal is to hit the gym 12 to 16 times a month. Friends, this should explain my weight gain. Haha. Don’t mind me if I’m wearing sweats. My jeans just won’t fit anymore.

Written on August 22, 2007

Feast One Hundred & Fifty Six

Appetizer

Describe your laundry routine. Do you have a certain day when you do it all, or do you just wash whatever you need for the next day?

I am a stressed, undomesticated, working mom. I am fortunate to have help with laundry and other household chores.

When hubby and I first lived together though, we had no help. I was pregnant and working with four or five loads in the washing machine once or twice a week.

Soup

In your opinion, what age will you be when you’ll consider yourself to truly be old?

My mom is fifty-seven and I don’t consider her old. Her attitude makes a youthful difference. I hope to be hip like her.

I would probably consider myself truly old when I start losing weight without any effort, and get wrinkly fingers without soaking in the tub. I’d probably be between sixty-five to seventy years old. But I would consider myself very lucky if I lived up to sixty-five, considering my unhealthy lifestyle.

Salad

What is one of your goals? Is it short-term, long-term, or both?

One of my short-term goals is to get a promotion this year. I think that’s more realistic than losing forty pounds.

Main Course

Name something unbelievable you’ve seen or read lately.

It was pretty unbelievable for me to see the SexBomb Girls in Wikipedia, and that someone documented their history, including their oust from Eat Bulaga. It was interesting to find out how much each member was making. Not bad at all. Look it up. And I thought they were getting peanuts.

Dessert

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how happy are you today?

Nine? Because…

… it’s dark outside and I like that.
… my boss is on day off. (I don’t hate my boss, I just don’t feel any pressure when he’s not around, and that’s a good thing, right?)
… I have posted an entry today. I’ve been seriously busy these last couple of weeks.
… I still have money left from last pay-day.
… little bro sent me some $.
… I’m looking forward to having lunch at Kooky & Luscious. My newest fave.
… I know I’ll be with Ippo at the end of the day.

Might turn into a ten if Denver and I get along today.

More of Friday’s Feasts

My Son Loves Wowowee

I don’t know whether I should love or hate local television. My son has picked up a lot of antics from it. It’s hilarious but I'm not sure if I should be concerned.

Here are just a few of his TV influences:

1. Viva Hot Babes Song, “Basketball” – Last week, when I was in bed, Ippo placed his drum set on my knees, then started beating it while singing “bahkitbol bahkitbol ang sa sa ng bahkitbol.” The tune was familiar. Later on, I found out that this was Viva Hot Babes’ Basketball song, which is regularly played in Wowowee.

2. Dududu – I woke up from my nap and saw Ippo on the floor playing with our supply of Q-tips. In an attempt to distract me, he started singing “A dududu adada da ahaha.” His yaya had been bragging about it but I could never get him to perform it for me. Instead of scolding him, I laughed non-stop. The song didn’t really amuse me. It’s the fact that he already knows the art of diversion at two years old that got me.

3. Otso Otso – Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t this song a hit back in 2003? My son was born in June 2005. I don’t know how and where he caught this one, but I’ve seen him do it many times. One day he just started singing “tayo ocho ocho, ocho ocho.” And uh-huh, he can dance to it too. Not as well as the SexBomb Girls in my opinion, but he crouches and bounces his knees while singing. Sometimes, I suspect that his yaya is teaching him this stuff.

4. Game Ka Na Ba? – Every time he sees Kris Aquino on TV, he whoops “Game Na.” Even when were watching Deal Or No Deal. Edu Manzano in GKNB does not get any reaction from Ippo. I like Doods pa naman.

5. The Buzz – This is my fault. He says “The Buzz” when he sees Tito Boy (Abunda).

6. Moms, QTV– This is my favorite. Before they break for commercial, one of the hosts would say something like “huwag po kayong aalis, dahil magbabalik po ang… MOMS.” All three hosts (Lani Mercado, Manilyn Reynes and Sherilyn Reyes) would say MOMS in unison. Ippo would say MOMS with them on queue. Even when he is playing and not looking at the TV, he knows when it’s time to say it. Gosh.

7. Pangarap Na Bituin – When Ippo was still an infant, no matter how sleepy he was (as in, looking groggy and all), whenever he would hear Jewel In The Palace’s theme song Pangarap Na Bituin, he would raise his head and look at the tube. Grabe noh?

He does other things that I am certain he learned from television. When he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he does is turn the television on. But I like morning TV for him because he gets to enjoy Dora, The Backyardigans and kiddie stuff from Nick Jr.

I honestly want to limit his viewing, but the people taking care of him are addicted to local TV. It’s sad that I cannot ask my mom and his yaya to (please) stop watching Wowowee. I have nothing against the show, it’s just that I don’t think it’s appropriate for my son at this time.

One of the reasons why I decided to send him to school at such an early age is for him to learn other things. I am happy that he has learned to count and sing age appropriate songs. Pre-school is expensive but I feel that it’s worth it.

I have to admit though, that my son’s funny habits make my day.

Wisdom

I love it when it rains. Typhoons and flash floods don't count, of course. I just like listening to raindrops and seeing how it's exceptionally dark outside when the sun should be scorching. If I lived in the countryside, and weren't scared of lightning, I'd probably stay outdoors on a rainy day.

Today I am at work waiting for Denver to get off from his team meeting. I don't mind being held up since it's my day off tomorrow, plus, I am actually enjoying the pitter-patter on the window pane.

- - - -

I found myself reading up on karma earlier. Sometime this week, I eavesdropped on some interesting thoughts about attracting positive and negative experiences. I suddenly remembered insights on energy from when I was reading The Celestine Prophecy back in college.

It wasn't so difficult for me to re-embrace the concept of karma. It simply tells us that if we send out something positive, we attract positive experiences. And when we harbor negativity, we attract negative experiences.

In the midst of confusion and mixed emotions, the concept of karma gives me some hope. It makes me feel as though I can remove all my pain by learning to let go of all the negative feelings I've been nursing.

- - - -

It's starting to clear up. Although I enjoyed the rain, I guess it had to stop for a good reason.

Parody

I’m beginning to have second thoughts about passing off on our company’s next Leadership Convention. I usually welcome these events, but I developed a certain allergy to it since the last Lead-Con.

You see, my husband’s ex-mistress is an esteemed Team Leader from one of our sites. As such, this Lead-Con would be a reunion of sorts for the two of us. Bleah.

Let’s just say that after the last Lead-Con, I wanted to admit myself to a hospital because of hypertension.

After getting caught cheating on her boyfriend with my husband, the piece of trash had the audacity to strut beside me. And I swear that if I didn’t value my job, I would have slit her throat right then and there.

So, this thing is two days away and I still don’t know what to do. If I go, I know I will feel so damaged again.

One of my bosses called me the other day to ask why I am the only TL in our site who did not accept the invitation. I told her the truth. She didn’t want to accept my shallow reason and was pushing me to go. She thinks I shouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to be inspired by Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II. I honestly want to go, but what can I do? I’m still so damn affected. All I want is to never see her again. Earth, please swallow her now.

I can’t believe I don’t have the strength to face that slut. And I thought I had toughened up.

Wishful Thinking

Very recently, one of my colleagues educated me on Pag-ibig Fund, bank housing loans and good property deals in Pasig City. On Monday, Denver and I visited Riverfront by DMCI. The unit we checked was very small, but we both loved the location and amenities. We could probably get a unit if we forced it, but then we would both have to live cheap until our fifties. A tiny 3 bedroom unit is around 3 and a half million in cash. If you add the 15 year interest through financing, the cost becomes ridiculously crazy for people in our income bracket.

Like I said, Denver and I could force it, but that means goodbye to Starbucks for the next 15 to 20 years, and possibly even goodbye to Mcdonald's value meals. We would probably have to live on tuyo and kangkong everyday. Not that tuyo is bad, but hey, that's still 15 years!

Anyway, it just makes me wonder how other people do it. Of course, this strikes out irresponsible dick-heads born with money, young athletes and instant celebrities. What I mean are other ordinary people like me. My colleague is younger than me, and has held a supervisory position for less than a year, but here he is scouting properties and intending to actually obtain one this year. Yeah, yeah, so he's single and doesn't have the same financial responsibilities, but still, I can't help but admire people like him.

It would be so great to be able to afford our own home here in the Philippines without having to slave away overseas. I wonder if we'd have to get to that point. Sigh. I want a condo, damn it.

Ten Inches

I don't mean to bore you with my wellness talk but it's just been my focus for the past few weeks. I quit my no-rice diet on the third day. But wait! Before you shake your head in disapproval, let me tell you what I've been stuffing myself with for the past week. Well, I've been eating vegetables. For the first time in my life, I am eating greens like it were normal for me. That's everyday for the last seven days.

For those of you who do not know me, my regular diet consists of anything smothered in butter or fried in oil. I am no fan of ulam with sarsa or sabaw, except if it's Kare-kare or my mom's La Oya. I just like fried steak (not even grilled), pork, hotdog and eggs. No fish, no veggies. I only eat fish if it's canned and swimming in oil and preservatives, filleted (especially if it's from Mcdonald's), or if it's sashimi or in sushi. I will eat veggies in the form of french fries, onion rings, and occasionally, gourmet salad. I almost never eat veggies at home, except for the squash in Pinakbet, onions in Bistek Pinoy, my mashed potato recipe (does that count?), frozen/mixed corn, carrots and green peas (I throw away the peas though), tortang talong, and probably a few more not-very-healthy vegetable dishes. I don't eat healthy at all. I love fat. You are what you eat, huh? Even my tuna omelet has lots of oil, butter, milk and cheese.

I know that I am a good (and young) candidate for heart disease or cancer, especially with my old habits – tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, no fruits, no veggies, all fried diet, very little water. This is the year when I attempt to change all that by adapting a new lifestyle.

I still have a lot of inches to get rid of (around ten on my waist alone). I don't think I've lost any weight at all (huhuhu). It's been a month since I enrolled in Fitness First. But guess what? Those chicks that I used to envy? I can outrun them now. Normally I alternate 2 minutes of walking with 3 minutes of jogging, until I complete 30 minutes on the treadmill. On Wednesday, I walked for 2 minutes and jogged for 23 minutes non-stop. Yesterday I did 2 sets of 25 minutes (non-stop jogging). Who would have thought? I can't wait to see the results. I hope that my new plan proves to be effective.