New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is probably my favorite holiday. I say this because even now I still feel it's a special event. I used to go gaga over Christmas, but then I realized there was no Santa and real Christmas trees aren't plastic and half the world didn't celebrate it. And while my level of excitement over the last day of the year has been steadily decreasing with age, I still get that New Year's Eve buzz.

To A. in London who is probably the only person who reads this blog who has no concept of New Year's Eve in Manila -- the city is like a war zone, with people randomly lighting dynamite- like firecrackers, missile- like fireworks. In a place where the minimum wage is US$5/day, some people are known to spend upwards of US$1,000 on fireworks and firecrackers on one evening. The sky is lit, the air thick with smoke. Muted explosions from far away sound like gun fire, explosions from across the street make your car alarm go off, everything contributing to the night's bedlam.

It is chaos and I love it.

Happy New Year everyone, happy new year!

Post Christmas cheer

Christmas is one holiday that's all about the lead-in, the anticipation. For weeks (and for some people much longer) the Christian world fixates over the 25th of December. Then the day comes and 24 hours later that's it, we wait again till next year. There is no collective post-Christmas glow, no Christmas hangover.

But not for me; I'm a sucker for Christmas and a sucker for the Macarena, so enjoy the silliness.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Sometimes...

...I miss my old lives.

I miss high school. When R and I had silly hair, discussed silly things and were just generally silly.

I miss the time I was in college, drinking too much Red Horse, wasting too much time playing pool and reading esoteric novels.

I miss the law school years. I was beadle and thought that was important.

I miss the early years at The Perm. With Chum and my then 22 member batch. Nine years later only one of us remains.

I miss New York. When I was poor and read menus from the outside of restaurants.

I miss the last days at The Perm. With N. and the Mean Girls.

But that said, I wouldn't exchange then for now. To paraphrase Philip: not ever, never.

Twice on a Sunday

• Letterman over Leno
• vanilla over chocolate
• Colbert over Stewart
• Celtics over Lakers
• mayo over ketchup
  
• Madonna over Cyndi
  
• siomai over siopao
• bola-bola over asado
• Ellen over Oprah
• original over extra spicy
• Maxim's over Cafe de Coral
• metal bands over leather straps
• Mugabe over Bush
• Bush over Cory
• thin crust over pan
• Light over Pale
  

Too obvious to mention but I will anyway:

• Coke over Pepsi
• ADMU over DLSU
• Google over Yahoo
  

My thighs hurt

Just because I haven't been writing about going to the gym doesn't necessarily mean I haven't been going. On the contrary, I've actually integrated working out into my weekly routine. (Hurray for me.) For the last 15 months, I've been in the gym 2-4 times a week. Most of the time I'm by myself, but sometimes I meet my trainer, Raymond.

Yesterday I saw Raymond and he made me do these evil squats.

The picture doesn't quite capture the pain involved in doing these squats. The guy in the drawing actually looks like he's having a good time. But I challenge all of you (my 6 readers) to do 50 of these squats in succession. Yep, 50. And let's see if you'll be enjoying yourself. If you've been looking for an easy (no acrobatics) low cost (no machines, dumbbells or accessories necessary) high pain exercise, this one's for you!

So now my thighs hurt, and I'm grumpy. I'm grumpy because I can hardly sit, stand, or go up (or down) a flight of stairs without making what I call "old person sounds". Grunts and sighs, mostly.

*Grunt*

Postcard from HK

I think one of the best things about Hong Kong is that it's a city that knows its place in the world. Unlike New York or Manila, it's not populated by deluded people who think they live in the center of the universe. Hong Kong knows it's just one small island in a dynamic world. There's much to see once you leave it.

Hong Kong is also somewhere you stay for only a portion of your life. Somewhere you stop on your way to somewhere else. You're not born here, you're not from here. No one retires here.

Four weekends of December

One -- Damages marathon. Woohoo!

Two -- Christmas shopping. Bah.

Three -- Boris Birthday Party. Joy to the world!

Four -- Togetherness happiness.

Books I will read next year -- promise!

I've listed some of the book I plan promise to read in 2009. These are books I have owned for some time now, but have not come around to actually read. Dad, you can click on the names of the books, to read more about them.

Hunting and Gathering, Ana Gavalda

Specimen Days, Michael Cunningham

Better, Atul Gawande

Flying Leap, Judy Budnitz

Holiday reading

'Tis the season to read "themed" literature.

I read Holidays on Ice again. For something like the fourth time. Still funny as the first time. This is a collection of essays from David Sedaris about the time he was working as an elf in Macy's Santaland. If you've never read Sedaris before, Holidays is "classic" Sedaris.

Very wry. Very dry.

Am also in the middle of the Holiday Season, two novellas (i.e. long short stories) by Michael Knight (no, not David Hasselhoff in Night Rider). It's one of these ultra sad books. This one is about a dysfunctional family (whose is not?), with a father coping with the death of his wife, his two grown sons distant. Not to be picked up if you get depressed during the holidays.

Playing with foie gras

Tired of paying ridiculous amounts of money for small slivers of fattened duck liver, C and I decided to take charge of our own destinies and prepare the stuff ourselves. Seriously, how hard could it be?

Not hard at all. Seriously.

First thing you need to do is buy really expensive raw foie gras. Yes, I know the whole point was to save money, but this stuff costs a lot even when in the meat section of the supermarket.

Then you take it home, slice it into rectangular pieces ala SPAM (Filipinos would get this reference). Sprinkle generous amounts of flour over the foie gras so that they are covered completely in flour. Heat a pan with a bit of canola oil in it (not too much, just so that foie gras does't stick to the pan). When the pan is hot enough (right before it starts to smoke), sear the foie gras. One minute on each side is plenty. Salt and pepper to taste.

The yummy sauce is made by heating a spoonful of some canola and then adding balsamic vinegar and the drippings from the foie gras.

That's it. Nothing more to it.

Now go and try this yourself at home.